


How to save an angel

by jacintoo



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: AU, Angst, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 03:37:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 40,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13022436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacintoo/pseuds/jacintoo
Summary: One day Ravus receives a task: A boy from Argentum Lab escaped, and his name is Prompto Argentum, and he needs to get him back, as Verstael told him Prompto was the best soldier in the next generation of Magitek.There's no Lunafreya in this AU, the story was focused mainly on Ravus and Promptis.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [絶望の丘](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/357375) by Plastic Tree. 



The engine sound of Aranea's red ship flies over the blue grey sky of Aracheole Stronghold. Outside of the great gate, several Magiteks are patrolling, they stop when they see the ship, they look up and break their phalanx when Aranea and her crew jump into them.

"I'm here to take the generator." Aranea waves her spear.

 

Magiteks lead the road and Aranea's crew follows. Never the magiteks can know, that there are two other persons in that red ship. 

"Thank you, and your leader, Aranea." Prompto waves his hands to the last remained mercenary in the ship.

"Never mind, good luck, boy."

 

The engine of the red ship buzzes again, and before its speed goes too high, Prompto takes off his poncho, throws it away and jumps off. It is not a perfect landing, but at least he has made it. He takes a deep breath, enjoying this fresh air of freedom. The blue fire above shines in glory in the clear vision under this sunset, he guesses that a sanctuary should not be far away. His left hand slides into his pocket and takes out a piece of paper, which writes an address that belongs to Cor Leonis in Insomnia. He knows that behind him it's the city of Lestallum, now he has to make a decision, whether to spend his night in the city, to buy some foods and maps or to have a rest in the sanctuary before he begins the journey to Insomnia. At least, he has time to decide now.

 

-

 

When Aranea finishes her task and comes back from her voyage to her base in Niflheim. A man stands under the light of a street lamp, it's difficult to see his face but Aranea knows who he is too well. The man of silky shined hair and white frock turns around, he looks a bit impatient. 

 

"Where have you been today?"

"Ravus, I don't have the obligation to tell you what's my every day duty. I had a generator to retrieve, by the way."

Ravus turns around, turning his back at Aranea. He knows that he's not supposed to stand here and question her, but he has to as a request from the Emperor, and also, she's the only person that he can put his trusts upon to open a conversation.

"Big news today, have you heard of it?"

"I guess I was way too far from here."

"One of the boys absconded from Argentum lab. Verstael was in furious, he already had a meeting with Ardyn and the Emperor, I'm afraid it's going to be a big headache."

"There are hundreds of magiteks died in battles, why this boy is so important? And Argent Lab? Excuse me, I never know anything about this lab."

"Argentum Lab. I heard of it several times before and as far as I know, there were around 50 elite boys there, and today, they had a final test, the 'survival' test. And, " Ravus scoffs, " and as a 'content' result, 49 boys died, only one survived. It was what Verstael wanted according to the official paper, to have this winner enlisted in my team. But somehow, absolutely with no possibilities, the winner escaped."

Ravus closes his eyes, the rays of greyish lights sows on his face and hair, glittering there almost like he's tearing.

"Oh, what a shame." Aranea walks a bit away from Ravus. "So this boy… hasn't 'turned' yet?"

"I don't know, I never heard of him before. Now I know his name, Prompto Argentum, he's a blond, rare isn't it? The whole group of Argentum has the potential to be turned in any moment, but somehow they were so precious that Verstael postponed his plan to mutate their DNA."

"I guess that's why he held this 'survival test' until today?"

"Yeah, to get the best one, the elite of the elites, and maybe, to clone him later. Now that he's gone…" Ravus takes a deep sigh again.

"You are worried that they would assign you to find him? Or you are worried about the kid?"

"Worry? No, Aranea, don't underestimate me. Don't you feel it? It's a shame here, in this place. Why all the good things have to fade away in this country?"

"I know what you mean, I can feel it too. A child like this, when you described him as a 'boy'." Aranea swallows, something is sore in her throat.

"Sixteen years old. What would happen when a mother knows his boy is missing?"

"She would cry, call the police, and try her best to find him."

"She would have no time to sleep, to think about the other things and probably collapse when never any news is good. And look at this boy, Prompto Argentum."

"A boy that has no mother."

"Something is just not right in this Empire. That's what I feel."

"Shh… Keep it down. Not a topic here."

"We should see again soon. Now excuse me, I have to go now."

Ravus takes out something from his pocket and shows it to her, a transparent card.

"I see you have business with Ardyn again."

"I have to go to this fucking hot spring hotel with him tomorrow evening, and I have to prepare well enough."

"Be careful."

"I am."

 

They exchange their look and without saying goodbye, they separate.

 

-

 

When Ravus's military wagon arrives at the destination, he gets off and walks into a reclusive alley filled with pebbles and flourished colorful flowers. Ravus ambled up to a gracious and tranquil house built on the top of the alley, Tiresias, favorite of the high officials. He prefers here too, sometimes only. When he wants to write something or spend his weekends free from the chaos of the Empire's corrupted civilization. He looks into one of the windows in which Aden always prefers, hesitated several seconds and walks inside. He rings the bell and the concierge welcomes him and gives him the key that's for the room next to Ardyn's, it was a room demanded by Ardyn that he couldn't refuse. 

 

Ravus gets into his room, a blond boy's face brightens as he sees his master, he bows to him. Ravus rises his eyebrow, could Prompto be at the same age as this boy? He takes off his coat, the boy quickly goes up and takes it over, hanging it in a cloakroom, when he begins to help Ravus take off the rest of his cloths, Ravus then gives him a sign to stop.

 

"I'd like to be alone today."

"But Mr. Fleuret, at least -"

"Is Mr. Izunia already in the room?"

"Yes, sir. He's…eh… waiting for you already. In his pool in the balcony."

"Thank you for your service."

"With pleasure, sir. Do you like me to book a spa for you?"

"No, as I said, not today."

He places a tip on the upper pocket of the boy.

Seeing the boy leaving his room, he relaxes his body and takes off his cloths. He goes to the shower room and takes a quick shower. When he returns to the room, a cup of hot red tea and a pack of sugar next to it are well placed on the pedestal table already. Ravus chuckles as the boy was doing more than what he asked for. He drinks all of them before he goes to the balcony enclosed by bamboo fences and body-high glasses.

 

He takes off his slippers, walks in barefoot on the cobblestones and sinks his body into the hot water, allowing the brook of hot water to submerge his neck, resting his back of the head on a soft rock facing at the dark blue sky full of stars reflecting in his dull eyes and soul.

 

"Good evening, Ardyn."

He knows who's behind the bamboos there.

"Ah… You have come, my dear Ravus."

"No need for that title, what's the purpose for this rendezvous?"

"You know, we haven't caught up for quite a while."

"And at this time, tell me it's not a coincidence since the news of Argentum lab was out."

"Bingo. Everyone loves this Prompto Argentum now, I do too."

"Not the same way as your love is, I'm sure of it."

"Oh don't say that, Ravus, you know I always prefer you, you're the top on my list always."

"If this is all about today, excuse me."

Ravus gets up, the sounds of water immediately echo in the air.

"No No No, relax, Ravus. There's an interesting deduction I eavesdropped, I'd like to share with you. Now sit your shimmering ass down and listen."

"Fine." Ravus grabs a towel and dries his body, puts his bathrobe on and sits on a cane armchair. His eyes gaze through the bamboos ahead, almost are able to cross them and meet Ardyn's eyes behind, "I'm waiting."

"ah, I certainly can't let you wait. Imagine these kids, locked in a big cell, with full controls and guards surrounded, and self-destruction devices were ready to be triggered at any time, how is that possible that he escaped in such conditions?"

"I never was interested in these experiments; how would I know?"

"If you paid any attention, you'd know that it wouldn't be possible. Unless." Ardyn pauses his voice.

"Unless?"

"Sorry I was a bit thirsty, " some tinkling sounds of a glass of water echo. "Unless someone helped him, not you, not me, not Verstael."

"Or the whole experimental system was malfunctioning? I don't think Verstael held a lot of survival tests." Ravus holds his tone, tries his best not to leak any moods sentimental.

"Nope, Ravus. Think about it, if it was just a simple malfunction, how he managed to escape from Niflheim? The check in the train station is very strict now. Or he is still in Niflheim, hmm, could be, what a mischievous child, keeping our soldiers busy."

"He must be very smart then."

"Don't underestimate a boy. And he is the ONLY survivor after all."

"You don't have to remind me."

"Maybe you'll meet him one day. Didn't I mention it to you? Since you are the one assigned to this project."

Ravus rises his eyebrow, wet his lips and makes an unpleasant cough.

"Like I ever had the right to be the first one to know before. But thank you for informing me in advance."

"Never mind. I wished that I was the one who was in charge, ever since Verstael showed me the picture of him, I feel my little heart touched by this poor child's pretty, pretty face. Has Verstael ever shown you how he looks too?"

"Yes. I'm very sorry to disappoint you, I don't really feel as much as you do. For me he's just like all the other soldiers."

"Oh No, Ravus, always so cheerless, so joyless, like an exquisite porcelain doll."

"People have different ways of etiquettes and tastes, and it made me what I am today."

"You still don't get the point, do you?"

"Yes?"

"That there's someone who escorted him."

"You mean we have a mole?"

"Someone just like you."

"Excuse me?" Ravus has no mood to take this joke, "Stop that slander!" 

"Just a joke, don't take it too seriously. You'll find your task on your desk tomorrow morning. As for tonight, would you mind that I -"

His coquettish tone makes Ravus sick, he feels that he has to deal with this problem every time Ardyn gets him at night.

"hmm, " Ravus phonates in a disdainful but frivolous tone, " Sorry, at this moment I suggest we don't meet face to face."

"I know the reason. Heterosexual, so sad."

The light of the balcony of Ravus dims. A long pause before Ravus speaks a word.

"Good night, Ardyn."

"If you can catch him. Let me know."

"Haven't you already got enough pets?"

"The new ones are always the best."

 

Ravus stands up, he's not so sure if he should even stay in this hotel tonight. It won't be an easy thing to sleep with the conscious of Ardyn being next to his room. Who knows what he will do when he's deranged. He changes his cloths to the uniform and gets out of the room, where the blond boy is still standing there waiting for serving his master.

"I need to check out."

"So soon?" The boy's face is filled with disappointment.

"I'll come back soon." He's not sure if he's lying.

"Please follow me this way."

 

Ravus quickly finishes with the concierge, ignoring the boy who's staring at him before the window of the lobby bar. He gets into his wagon and vanishes in the trace of snow, the only words in his mind are now: Prompto Argentum.


	2. Chapter 2

"Iggy, do we have to campaign here? Tonight?" Noctis whines, while helping Gladiolus prepare the tent.

"Let's respect Gladio's idea for once." Ignis chops the fresh and succulent meat of a taotie, "Today is the final day of your trip in hammerhead. Tomorrow we'll go back to Insomnia."

"And on the final day of our trip, we can't even have a good souvenir of staying in a nice hotel?"

"By the definition of 'a nice hotel' I guess you don't mean motel, besides, Golden Quay is way too unaffordable."

"I can stay a few days more if you allow me to earn more gils. " he scratches his cheek and pouts, "And if the school isn't opening so soon."

"It's time to leave. I heard the rumors from Cid this morning. The frontiers are getting more and more tense, there must be something happened in imperial cities. We'd better get pass it before it becomes impassible."

"Fine." Noctis sighs.

"Plus you can enjoy the last dish I prepared. Noct, you don't like the cooking I prepare for you?"

"Oh yes, I'll definitely love it." Noctis checks Ignis preparing the food on the temporarily scaffolded kitchen table.

"So it's really the camp that you dislike." Gladio pats Noctis' shoulder and snaps at him.

"Ok I give up. I'll shut up and enjoy tonight here, as long as it doesn't rain."

 

The three sit around the camp fire, enjoying the sparkling meat prepared by Ignis and regretting  discovering so late how delicious the meat of taotie can be, then Gladiolus opens the topic.

"So, are you ready for the reports to the King?"

"I do. " Ignis smiles, "And I'll write them down as a trip journal. The volcano, the behemoth, how many people I have saved, How I met Dave, lots of things to write."

"And maybe the chicks you met in Lestallum." Noctis adds.

"Or Gladio. He can keep them in your diary, not mine."

 

Then, all of sudden a cadent sound of some blunt force several meters away passes barreling through them and disperses in the invisible frontier, Ignis immediately stays in vigilant, Gladio stands up and retrieves all the dishes, and Noctis acts as if no one heard that. The fresh air of a soft gentle wind breezes Noctis' hair, he combs it by his fingers and looks at the sky, there's a sense of nostalgia that he doesn't want to let go seeping into his heart.

 

Another muffled sound.

"I guess there are some whimsical nocturne daemons around."

"I don't think it sounds like the ones from daemons. Don't get away from the sanctuary."

"Yes Sir, as long as we don't get out, no one can hurt us."

Noct changes his cloths and jumps into the tent and finds a book belonging to Gladio, he opens several pages and quickly gets bored by its esoteric content. Then his attention switches to the cards beside him.

"You know I always feel that there's one person missing." He pouts and plays with the cards in hands.

"Why you say that?" Gladio joins inside, snatches his book from Noctis and closes it.

"Because there are more card games for four persons."

"Ah! That's your reason? You can ask Cindy to come here if she doesn't really mind."

"Seriously? You think she'll love to stay with three men, in a tent?"

"I'm sure there's a way." Gladio nudges him.

"And when you are back to the school, everyone has a photo of you and Cindy." Ignis pokes his glasses and folds the cloths of Noctis meticulously. "That'll be a scandal, nope, that'll a bad idea to invite Cindy."

Another muffled sound. And this time, it finally gets their attention. A doubt touched in Noctis' heart.

"What was that sound exactly? I never heard any of this type of sounds from daemons."

"Me either, it sounded more like a gunshot to me. Stay alert, it can be the Empire's ship, or maybe an enemy sniper."

"If it's from the Empire's ship, there should be strong winds before it arrives, no? At least I didn't feel any winds, except breezes. And I don't hear any sound of their engine either."

"We're on our final day of the trip, don't waste your time on the unnecessary attempt of solving nature's problems."

Noctis gives up, for him arguing with Ignis is the real unnecessary attempt. And after several hours of garrulous talks and card playing, the previous intriguing dissonance has somehow become a part of the harmony dissolved by the deserted nature and later an ambience, all is gone out of their minds when they fall asleep deeply.

 

In the morning, with the help of Ignis' ringtone, Noctis gets up, dresses up with the help of Ignis, gets out of the tent. After having a nice breakfast, he's ready to be back to his hometown. He gets into Regalia, through the sunrise he looks behind, all the scenes in hammerhead, and all the people he met, Cindy, Cid, Dave, and Kenny, have become a memory that marks in his heart. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, opens again, looks at this sunshine one last time with his pale blue eyes before asking Ignis to drive.

 

Not several minutes after the engine started, the three quickly realize that along the road of the half-opened military gate to the Insomnia, dozens of bodies of magitek are accumulated on both sides of the road, all got one shot to the head, not just magitek, some are even giant robots. They are amazed by how many there are. _What happened here?_ A question mark raises in all of them. Could it be the gun shots they heard last night? When they get close to the bridge before the frontier, a raucous and strident cry gets their attentions, a previously looking dead magitek jumps up, walking in zigzag like a zombie and trotting towards them. Gladiolus quickly jumps off Regalia, summons his shield and covers the sight in front of Noctis, until a bullet pierces through the head of the magitek who stops and collapses on the Regalia.  

 

"What the…?" Gladiolus looks dumbfounded. "Someone tried to help us?"

"I think it's the same sound that we heard last night. Don't move, Noct, we still don't know if he helping us or not. " he looks down at the bodies outside, "And these must be his masterpiece made last night." Ignis' hands clasp on the wheel and feet stick on the accelerator, it's painful for him to let Noctis see such a morbid scene and be unable to do anything about it.

"Stop, Ignis! Stop the car." Noctis yells.

"Excuse me, but may I know why?"

"I think I saw the person who was helping us."

"Where? Are you sure he was helping us? He could be just helping himself. Noct!"

Noctis already jumps off the car right after Ignis and scurries to a shrub where he hunches forward and his back disappears from the sights of Ignis and Gladiolus. 

"Hey guys! I need your help too."

The two look at each other and quickly follow. Several seconds later, they hear a new groaning voice there and see Noctis slowly walking close to them while carrying a blond grimy boy over Prince's shoulder. Once Noctis carefully pushes the boy to Gladio. He gazes at him. The blond boy, despite of the splattered blood on his body and tousled hair, part of his thick hair still irradiates in the bright rays of the rising sun, driven by the wind like golden silks, his pale skin covered with dust and freckles, lips dry and dusty. He has never seen a boy that's so bedraggled like him before.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your journey." the boy mutters in a refrained voice, "I'd like to know if you're going back to Insomnia?"

"I saw his sniper there, " Noctis nods, "the suppressor looks broken."

They now realize that the intermittent sounds last night were indeed from him.

"How did you manage to get here? Did you have any place to rest?"

The blond boy blinks, his frightened face at Noctis, eyes widely open.

"If you're not from Insomnia, I'm very sorry to bother you, please let me go."

"No, I'm Lucisian. We all are."

"Phew, that's… great to know!" he chortles, "How far are we from Insomnia?"

The three boys look at each other, perturbed, because the way this boy pronouncing the word Insomnia was kind of strange. As the blond doesn't seem to be hostile, Gladio and Ignis are waiting for Noctis' decision. A few seconds later, Gladio comes over, and helps Noctis to get the boy to stand up, and that's when he sees a large rip on his right thigh, previously hidden by his hands. Hot red blood continues oozing from his wounds. Quickly Noctis takes out his potion and let the medicament assuage the boy's skin.

 

"Ah…" the boy's expression eases, body softened on Noctis' arm, his blue eyes innocently gazing on Noctis', "This is the magic of Lucis?"

"Eh…mm, yeah." Noctis mumbles, he feels a bit strange that he actually gets a bit nervous when looking at that boy, "In fact, we have some even better ones back home."

"So you're heading to Insomnia?"

"Noct, " Ignis clears his throat, "I think he's in shock or something, his mind isn't really lucid."

"Yes, " Noctis smiles at Ignis, "but you are on the right way."

"Thank you, really. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it. I must be so lucky to meet you, eh," he jumps up, "Noct, right?"

"Yes, and you are?"

"Prompto, Prompto Argentum."

"Oh dear." Gladio crosses his arm and sighs, "Prepare to be upbraided for that when we see the King."

"It's Noct's decision."

"The King! Not the Emperor!" Prompto giggles, stepping back a bit and tries to shake off the dust on his mechanic uniform as he feels much more cheerful now.

"Are you feeling ok, Prompto?" Nocits asks.

"I must look awful now." Prompto flushes, "But I'm not a soldier like them." He points to the path behind them, "So if I follow this way I shall be able to reach Insomnia too."

"Where do you live?" Noctis urges.

"My parents, my father is in Lucis." He bites his lips, trying to look away, "I was separated from him for years. I must be there and live with him from now on, you know, like, I have to be there and find him."

While he sputters, his fingers clench on Noctis' arms subconsciously, eyes staring at Noctis until Noctis dodges away.

"Sure. I guess… eh…" Noctis touches his wet nose and looks back and Iggy and Gladio, "Surely we can help."

"I had them. But my case was shot, they are all gone now. I don't know why there are so many soldiers ambushed here. I found a sniper in the hands of a dead mercenary and a packet of ammunitions in his pocket. You already know what I did last night." 

_Yes_ _I had them, and I lied, I must be a terrible liar. Damn you,_ _Prompto_ _!_ Prompto curses in whisper and gnashes his teeth. Aranea gave him a case of several essential goods for lives, and the rest of the story was all made-up.

"Sorry, Prompto what did you say?"

"It's nothing!"

"Well, " Noctis looks at the face of Ignis and Gladiolus, both have no expression at all, "I must say you are the best sniper I've ever seen."

"Yes, I had trainings before." Prompto wets his lips and combs his hair, "To become a hunter."

"A hunter?"

"Ah, of animals of course!"

"Let's just not waste our time here, " Ignis harrumphs, "and I'll drive."

Ignis has his own plans, there's an auto check point before they drive to the avenue of Insomnia. If the boy is really carrying something baleful, the infrared detectors that detect any imperial weapons of destruction or listening devices will rise a siren.

 

Prompto doesn't say anything when Ignis said so, his eyes still focusing on Noctis', his brain is fully functioning on what he should do next. And the scruple that he's not sure or ready to get in the car is written all over his face.

 

"Come, you have nothing to fear about." without knowing the plan of Ignis, Noctis holds the wrist of Prompto firmly and helps him fasten the seat belt, "You can sit next to me. Gladio will be too big to fit in."

"If you don't mind the dirtiness. Gladio?" Prompto's eyes lock on Gladiolus' chest, widely open and amazed at how big this guy is, "Nice, nice to meet you. I'm Prompto."

"Yes, I heard that. " Gladio chuckles, " And nice to meet you too. Let's go then."

Prompto's face brightens, still feeling the warmness of Noctis' palm in his wrist, his smiles turn from doubt to exuberance, "Yes please! To Insomnia!"

 

The tensioned string inside Ignis quickly turns loose when no siren was rang. He glances at Gladiolus who smiles and nods at him like he already sees through him.

"It'll be fine." says he in a soft tone while asking Noctis to bring a can of Ebony, one hand on the wheel and holds it by the other hand, "It's called Ebony, but sorry they are not for you, you can have water instead. By the way, do you have the address where your parents live? We can stop by there."

 

Prompto looks at Noctis who's giving him an affirmative nod, he then takes out the paper of the address and gives it to Gladio who checks the computer typed address and handles it to Ignis.

"Yep." Ignis smiles in confidence, "It's close to citadel too. We'll stop by your home first."

"Citadel? Oh My. I don't know how should I reciprocate." Prompto crosses his fingers on his thighs, "I must have wasted a lot of time of yours. If you don't mind, Noct?"

"Yes?"

"I mean, your dad must be waiting for you too. I don't want you to be late."

"eh… sure, yeah, I mean no, just, " Noctis utters, "don't bother it."

"Thank you." 

Prompto turns his head and squints at the sun lights. Eventually his long dark eyelashes lower and eyes shut. Noctis carefully gazes at this delicate face, mind rewinding all the good happenings with him this morning like a movie, he turns his face to the other side softly to not awake Prompto, then he turns back, eyes scrutinizing at Prompto's chest which rises and falls, his soft belly, and suddenly blushes when he peeps at the part between Prompto's thighs, he quickly looks away as if Prompto is awaken already. Thankfully, here comes the time that Ignis calls Noctis to get off the car and wake up Prompto as they reach his destination.

 

They wave goodbye at Prompto who's having a bit difficulty to stay sober and walk straight, Noctis just stands there until the silhouette of Prompto disappears. He even glances at the door when it is opened by someone inside who's impossible to be seen from the angle where Noctis stands.

 

"I swear I've been here before but I never noticed there's a house here."

"Now you see it. Great, Noct, you've just done a philanthropy."

"Are you sure, Ignis?" Gladiolus rubs his forehead, "I don't mean he looks evil or if anything is suspicious, but I was a bit surprised that he was so excited to be in Insomnia. And his way of pronouncing that word like he was emphasizing something is curious to me. And one more thing, he surely has never been here before, anyone who lives in Insomnia knows who is Noctis."

"That's what he said, he was long separated from his father. Of course he was excited." Noctis retorts, "Rather than being skeptical about him, I'm worried about him. I'm not sure if he can find his home." Noctis' both fists clench tight, "He seemed lost to me when I asked him if he was ok. Damn, I should ask him if he has a phone or a contact address, why you didn't remind me?"

"He'll be ok, you are worrying too much." Ignis takes a turn, "And he'll learn who you are very soon. If the fate comes, you'll meet him again."

"Anyway, " Noctis takes a soft sigh, "See my school badge here? He saw it too. I wonder if he remembered the name of my school, maybe he'll show up again, one day after school or something. Maybe."

Gladiolus bursts into laughter, "You have a quirky sense of humor."

"His address is very close to my school, c'mon," Noctis gives Gladiolus' shoulder a smack, "And he saved my life! You all saw that!"

"You should've just told him you are the Prince, Noct. It'll be much more helpful information."

"I was saving it for my next chance, OK? I know I'll have one very soon. I can feel it in my heart."

"You are the spotlight in the country, it's much easier for him to find you than the other way around. Let's just see if our Prince is attractive enough."

"I have the feeling that he's not one of those types of boys." Gladio shrugs.

"Your feeling could be wrong, he's cute."

"He's a sniper."

"That doesn't conflict with cuteness."

"If you say so."

 

When they arrive, the whole royal family welcomes them, and the king Regis invites the three to dine with him privately after they took a short rest and redressed themselves. Noctis is asked by several questions of his father, which he answers with banal tones. The awkward silence interrupts multiple times until Gladiolus and Ignis continue the topic with the anecdotes of Cindy, old time memoirs and uncanny researches of Sonia to avoid their King's spirit further going downward when Noctis quietly and quickly finishes his meal.

 

"I'm glad that you are safely home, my son."

"Thanks to Iggy and Gladio, and of course my wonderful combat skills."

"Anything abnormal, particularly interesting?"

"Nothing particular." Gladiolus looks at Ignis, "Nothing."

The two were both about to say something about the boy, Prompto that they met today, but they decided that it wasn't too early to discuss with the King.

"If there's nothing urgent. Excuse me, father." Noctis stands up.

Regis nods.

Once Noctis leaves the chamber, Gladiolus nods Ignis, Ignis nods and speaks to Regis.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to consult the latest information of the assassin group in Niflheim."

"Yes, I was just about to mention it." Regis dips his lips, "We found its headquarter, in Gralea, and Commander Cor is now in charge of it, you must speak with him quickly, he needs both of your help. I'd like to see this group eradicated immediately. And I must underline, keep this as a secret, I don't want my son to be concerned, at least not at this stage, you know he's the main target of the terrorism. I'll decide whether to let him know when the time comes."

"Absolutely, Your Majesty."

"Now please enjoy your meal and the evening." Regis stands up.

The two boys stand up and bow to Regis as he gives a sign to them to sit down and leaves the table.

 

Noctis went to his bed a bit earlier today, he misjudged his body condition, thought that he was so depleted that he would fell asleep right away. Even when he turns off the light, he can't. Despite of the flocky sheet and the downy quilt that warms and caresses his bare skin, plus the tranquil artificial garden surrounded by absolutely artificial feeding animals outside and secure high walls, he can't sleep. His mind only rolls and stops at what happened this morning and it refuses to go further. And it's strange that all the negative traits of Prompto are all gone. In his mind, there's only the delicate face of Prompto, the cheerful voice, the soft gold hair that he nearly touched, he wants to see him again, now. He ruminates over and over, throat hot and sear like his heart is coming out. He decides to go to his shower room despite that he's already been there tonight, swallowing one cup of water and looking at himself in the mirror.

 

 _How come, he's just an ordinary boy that he met on the road!_ Noctis shakes his head.

"You need to sleep! Lullaby, I need one now. I should call Iggy and, oh no, that's bad, bad bad." he utters looking crestfallen.

Warm yellowish rays fall upon him, make his pale flushed face faintly glow. His vision becomes blurry, his mind too, he stares at his reddish palm, the scene that he seized Prompto's wrist flashes into his mind. There, he looks at the horizon outside the window and takes a deep breath, body deflated, and goes back to his bed again, covering the quilt and listening to the frogs' breaths and wondering if Prompto is awake too, if Prompto will look for him, if he remembers the name of his school, or if he really looked at that badge.   
"Oh no!" He buries his head into the pillow, trying to suppress his voice, "Just forget about him, Noct. What the hell are you thinking?!"

 

In the morning, when Ignis passes by one of the pillars in the breezeway, he seems to be so concerned about a precarious porcelain vase that a maid is arranging flowers in, until Noctis shows up and catches his attention.

"Good morning, Noct. " he frowns, "Are you ok? You look morosely ill today. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Not really, Iggy, can I talk to you after your breakfast?"

"Absolutely no problem."

"Thanks."

 

Ignis then quickly finishes his breakfast because Noct's thing is his top priority; he goes into Noctis' chamber, where he hears a full confession of bitterness last night.

"Do you know why is that?" Noctis bluffs because he feels the question is just too stupid, "Yeah I know you do. I shouldn't really ask for advice."

"I don't know, but I do have similar feelings when I imagine you enjoy my cooking, but the trait of it is far less than what you had. Noct, I think you like him."

"Who? No."

"Prompto."

"I mean, heh, I do."

"And you are so impatient to see him again."

Noctis nods while Iggy lays his hand on Noctis' back.

"Don't put too much expectation on him, I'm afraid you'll be hurt if you do."

Noctis gives a sign of stop to Ignis, "You'll never know what's going to happen tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

Ravus sits in an armchair in the corner of his chamber in Tiresias, observing his servant designing the room for him while listening to his favorite music through the sound system echoing in the room. His glamorous visage reflecting symmetrically at the gleaming lamp, he almost looks like a sculpture merged with the background of his shadow behind. The boy kneels on a blanket and fully loses himself in the flowers and the positions of tea cups on the table, humming along with the rhythm of the music and using all his aesthetic knowledge to make each angle of lines art. After completing his inner contentment, he turns to Ravus who curves a smile and gives him a confirmative nod. He makes a clear and earnest smile and jumps up, lights on the candles in glasses on several planks.

 

"Impressive." Ravus crosses his legs and lowers the volume of the music remotely. 

"It's my pleasure, master."

"I prefer you call my name instead."

"Sir." befuddled, the boy timidly steps back. 

Ravus is a bit amused by the reaction from the boy's bewildered face, "Do you feel lonely?"

He feels pities for this pretty boy, or to be precisely, this robot, for he has seen this face several times already, not here, these are the faces designed by the same craftsman who he knows even before he became the Commander.

"Sir, I'm created by the empire. There are thousands of me outside, thus I don't feel lonely."

"I do, my parents died from the previous war. Do you feel sad when you know you have no parents? I was young, just at your age, it was as sad as it happened last week." he pauses as he finds it absurd to talk about it to this boy, "Let's not continue this topic anymore."

"Yes, Sir. I heard that you would become the next liege lord of Tenebrae."

"You heard it from who?"

"The servant next door, Sir."

"Don't believe everything you heard, child."

 

Ravus stands up, crosses the room and leans against the war next to the balcony where he takes a peep outside, he's expecting someone he invited to come tonight, now. His head tilts as if he finds someone he waits for already. He leaves the wall and goes up to the boy, gives the boy some tips and asks him to leave. The boy thanks him, bows to him and leaves a graceful smile to Ravus and quits the room.

 

-

 

Several minutes later, the door opens again, and a shape covered by dark shawl appears in front of the door. 

"Aranea. Why do you dress like that?" Ravus frowns at her.

"Why do you think that I have to dress like that? This is Tiresias, I am not supposed to be here. And I feel I've been followed." 

Aranea sighs and rolls her eyes, Ravus peers into the corridor, making sure no one is followed, he invites Aranea in and closes the door.

"Don't make this rendezvous like a tryst. It's a very natural activity between you and me."

"I tried not to." Aranea kisses the cheek of Ravus, "But you know this place is not for a girl like me who's a mercenary. I'm not like you, High Commander Ravus. Oh, by the way, I love that you have your general's garb on." says she as she pushes one of the fine buttons of Ravus' uniform and strips it off.

He then helps Aranea take off her shawl. Aranea lowers the zipper of her black leather jacket, takes out a stack of papers and pushes the papers to Ravus' chest before Ravus can catch it, taking a deep breath like her boobs were stifling her.

"Who could that be?" he takes over the papers, put them on the table and throws her coat on the sofa.

"I don't know, don't bother it now. I hope you like my reports."

"May I know the gist of them first?"

"They failed to take over Altissia again, still in the hands of Lucis. You should lead that battle, I know you want this city more than anyone."

"I knew Loqi would fail. I can't." he heaves a sigh, "I wish I could be there." 

She pushes Ravus to the armchair, presses his lips by her fingers and kisses him hard, "Your perfume, you still remember which one I liked the most." she takes a deep lick on Ravus' neck, "How long we haven't done this, my dear Ravus?"

Ravus leaves an enjoyable smirk, looking at the ceiling, leaving his neck open for Aranea.

"You've been busy, I know." his hands gently on her back, lifts her body up a bit and lures her to come closer to him.

"And you too. " she unlocks her bra and sits astride his legs, "I heard you had a new assignment. "

"I guess everyone knows I have a new assignment now. Yes, I have. But not that urgent, at least not now."

"How so?"

"That boy -"

"Prompto."

"He ran to Insomnia. And we had to lay down our weapons and start trawling through every street prudently."

"And still couldn't find him anywhere there?"

"Sorry, can't give you more details."

"He must be very talented at stealth then."

"Nope, in fact it was quite chaotic when he escaped from hammerhead, now this is between you and me, guess what, he was with Noctis, the Prince there. I saw them in one of the recordings from a dead machine."

"Seriously?" Aranea frowns, "So their King was involved? But Why?"

"So far no idea if it was just a fortuitous encounter, or it was something premeditated."

"You'll going to have a hard time, " she smiles, "and I can tell."

Aranea looses Ravus' belt and unbuttons his uniform, touches his wide chest and strokes the cleavage between his pale muscles. Ravus wants to utter something but when Aranea's fingers keep stroking further down and kneels in front of him, his mind chants and prepares to fly on high and impossible to make a good response.

"So what?" Aranea asks with a pleasure and an impish smile before she widens Ravus' thighs and gives the bulge a precise lick, "And someone just can't wait."

Ravus' fingers skims through his sweating soft silver hair, he catches a deep breath and forces his mouth to open and pour out an answer in a wheeze.

"Verstael? Of course, I told him he needed to confirm his data log before I… continue."

"Just to stall for more time? As you wish."

"Ah…" he groans and massages Aranea's scalp, "Please, let's put this aside and focus the much more important things first then."

Aranea acquiesces, she lets her hair cascade on Ravus' cheek and kisses Ravus' lips again before Ravus catches her wrist and throws her onto the bed.

 

"This night, will be long."

 

-

 

In early morning, Ravus opens his eyes and gets up from the bed, from his fuzzy visions he sees Aranea standing in front of the mirror and folding one of her cuffs of her undress uniform.

"Allow me to leave a bit too early, Ravus."

"What's so hurry?"

"You know, in fact, I'm still a bit worried that I was followed, I must leave before it causes any trouble."

"I can go downstairs with you."

"Don't treat me like a girl who needs protection, I'm a leader too. Oh by the way, I almost forgot, there was a rumor in the army recently. Have Verstael told you?"

"About what?"

"That his little Cage for Prompto's test is impossible to escape. Someone must have helped Prompto there, to make sure he won and escaped. It's flying everywhere already, and Verstael didn't want people to shut up, he loved the flame, didn't he? I guess he spread the rumor just to put more pressure on you. After so much sweat and blood he devoted to that laboratory and all of sudden the best boy there just escaped, I can feel his anger. The only thing he wants now is to get him back. So be careful, alright?"

"He's an obstinate old man, I know, but I know how to take care of him."

"What about Ardyn?"

"What do you try to implicate?" Ravus sits up, "I know you don't like him."

"He doesn't like me either. Just my little advice, if Verstael keeps harassing you, Ardyn may come to help. And if Ardyn gets involved, things aren't going to end well."

"I can't impel him to help me nor can I impede him not to. Let's just not talk about him, " he rubs his eyes, "I get headache even when I hear his name."

"Well, you know how to deal with him more than I do."

Aranea goes to Ravus' side and kisses his forehead before he can get up.

"Be careful." Ravus caresses her hair, "They could impose the crime of treason upon you, remember that day you weren't in Niflheim either. Don't get yourself involved in this quagmire."

"Most of my activities are under covert status, and you know it."

Ravus' eyes contemplate Aranea's face. Their eyes meet in a second and she turns her body. 

"Sorry. How could that be? I am one of the suspects too?"

"Not yet, not that I can tell. I'll try my best to not let you look like one."

"Take care."

She leaves her last words and opens the door.

 

Ravus gets up and takes a shower. After, he wraps his body in a white towel and gets out of the shower room. He goes in front of the balcony and withdraws the curtain, let the bland sunlight of the winter of Niflheim penetrate into his room, thinking about the conversations he just had. He demands the servant to bring in the breakfast, as he has spent so many morning here, the tasteful foods has become insipid in his tongues now, though he still thanks his servant and his chef to prepare for him. Then he goes to the closet and takes out his uniform and gets dressed, goes to the door and opens it where he sees a boy blocking his way, he recognizes this boy, he's the servant of Ardyn next door.

 

"Sorry?"

"My master would like to send you a message. And he wants me to deliver this message orally."

"Alright, what is it?"

"'Fucking Highwind again? Don't be late at today's meeting.'"

"Excuse me?!" Ravus feels a gut of hot blood rushing to his head.

"I'm sorry." the boy flinches, "But that was the message."

"Who's your master again?"

"Mr. Izunia, Sir."

"Tell him to fuck off, deliver this message orally too."

"Alright Sir, could you repeat the message?"

"It's 'Fuck Off'."

 

Then Ravus leaves the corridor, suddenly he realises something as he turns around and looks at the mechanic boy standing in front of Ardyn's room repeating his message, it was this boy that followed Aranea. And it must be under Ardyn's direction. He heaves a long sigh before he leaves the hotel, not sure if he should be relieved that it wasn't someone else.

 

In fact, Ravus likes Ardyn, not the same way as Ardyn likes him. They share lots of topics together, wars, music, strategies, and sometimes women, as Ardyn is bisexual. In this epoch, it's always wise to keep good relationship with a man like Ardyn for he constantly brings him anecdotes of the Empire and his unique prophetic perception, which always amazes him. And as a chancellor, he knows the best way to keep his caucus safe and it is also good for him as a High Commander to follow him and observe the corners of the politics. He has been a good "friend" with Ardyn for years for all these kinds of reasons. It's uncertain for him to know what part of him interests Ardyn besides his mien that Ardyn finds so hypnotizing, which he utterly rejects in his own ways. The vagaries of the behaviors of Ardyn for him are unpredictable and inscrutable, he can be mentally ill about something one day, and completely forgets about it the other day. He never fully trusts Ardyn, he has to bear in mind that keeping a good but not too close distance with him is nevertheless necessary. He knows their relationship won't last long, as far as now both love to keep it.

 

When sitting in the wagon, he takes out the papers from his suitcase and reads them, they list the priorities of the tasks in today's calendar, he checks one by one until the chauffeur calls him that they have arrived.

 

After several minutes of waiting before the gate of the throne room opens, he notices the faint voice not far away that sounds like the one from Ardyn. Ardyn seems to sense the ambiance of Ravus as well, as he suddenly seizes his voice and appears to the gate with a garish manner, and to his surprise, Loqi is behind him.

 

"Look who's here." Ardyn points to him.

"Yes Chancellor, you are with Loqi?"

"Yep, you know he's back from Altissia. I picked him up, and we had a little conversation together."

Ardyn then opens the gate, through that gate he gives Ravus a wicked smile.

"Come inside, my Commander."

"How many people today?" 

"The good news is Verstael is not coming today."

"Great, so that we don't have to hear his fusty complaints again."

Ravus glances at Loqi and walks in, and when Loqi follows behind him, he stops and turns to him.

"Just a few questions, may I?" when he says that, he looks at Ardyn instead of Loqi. 

"What's the business?" Loqi stares at him in questionable eyes as Ardyn leaves the room to call the other members.

"Yeah, how was your business? Did you have a good time when you were leading your troop in Altissia?"

"Hard time!" Loqi literally takes the words and presses his temple, "I almost got killed."

"You? Seriously?" Ravus chortles, "Before you left, you told us to wait for your triumphant return."

"Let's just, let's just not talk about it." Loqi utters.

"You should simply follow my strategy."

"Mr. Fleuret, may I remind you that the Emperor sent me to Altissia because they all agreed MY strategy was more viable, much more viable! And hey by the way, what about your mission? A soldier, a blond, absconded from Niflheim's most extravagant laboratory, and where is he now?"

Ravus scowls, he lowers his head and keeps reticence. A screen of the conversation between him and Aranea is playing in his mind, reminding him that Prompto is already in Insomnia. He looks at Loqi's resentful eyes and feels no humor to tell him. The room becomes extremely quiet all of sudden, until Ravus breaks the silence.

"A blond, you say, and I wonder that too, where is he now?" Ravus pushes Loqi against the gate.

"You're not going to threaten me, are you? High Commander." Loqi hops to the other side.

"He hasn't heard about that." Ardyn pushes the gate open right on time and reminds Ravus, "It's fine, Loqi. Ravus is just having a bad temper today. " he pats Loqi's shoulder, "You did a great job. Nobody is going to punish you, don't worry, I'll take care of the rest."

"What a gentleman." Ravus blandishes.

A drip of sweat strokes Loqi's forehead in a fine line. Ravus is ready to go back to his standing position along with the other officers following behind Ardyn, then he notices Ardyn is winking at him like he's reminding the message that he asked the boy to send to him earlier today.

 

During the meeting, Ravus claims that he's out of his trace first but the responsibility is back to him as the Emperor protests that the technology of Insomnia has absolutely zero chance to discover anything in Prompto's genetic codecs. For Ravus, he doesn't want this boy to be back at all. He wants to make this mission fail and even it means he has to take all consequences. He understands why the Emperor wants him back so badly, Verstael told him Prompto had excellent scores, he's not just one of millions soldiers of the Empire, there's something special in Argentum lab that even Ravus has no idea what kind of obscurity hidden there. 

 

Ardyn then raises a question to everyone present: "Someone must have helped him. But what for?"

"I heard that too. If this child's escape is connected to an espionage of Lucis, the consequences will be too pernicious, " the Emperor says, "Ravus, bring us some good news, we need them."

"Yes, Your Majesty, your wish is my command."

"I must say, " Ardyn steps forward, "that this fuelled speculation has whetted my appetize, if Lucis is really involved, may I play a part in this mission as well, I'm sure I can give a boost to the pace of our investigation considerably."

"You made the decision, Chancellor." The Emperor says.

Ravus can feel the grim smile Ardyn is putting behind him. _This man has got it._ Ever since Ardyn learned that Prompto encountered Noctis, he has shown his blatant passion to join this mission with him. In Ravus' opinion, Ardyn has some indescribable perverted curiosity towards Noctis that makes him look like his number one stalker. He swallows and bows to the Emperor to show his consent, but inside he knows this is going to be the start of an endless nightmare. He can't snap back, as everybody knows Ardyn is the true ruler of Niflheim.

"Thank you, Chancellor."

"My pleasure, Mr. Fleuret."


	4. Chapter 4

It's been one month since Noctis' last encounter with Prompto. He is alone, he sits on a wood bench in the sports cloakroom and witnesses the boys come and go, the door ajar of the room emits an acute sound every time it opens and closes. No one seems to notice or bother such an irritating detail except Noctis, he's the only one who locks himself in his own wrapped space of solitude, waiting for his classmates to finish changing their costumes, it seems that everyone else has their own endless vigor and cheerful moods to disport themselves. He drinks some water in a plastic bottle in his hand, and glances at the sky which is on the other side of the vision. He stops his motion when one of the boys calls his name in a rakish and quirky tone, then he stands up and packs his back and leaves the school with him.

 

"What's the matter, Noctis? It's been one month since the opening of new term, not a single day that you look happy. Cheer up."

"Just leave me alone."

"Eh… Noctis?"

Another boy interjects their conversation right after they go cross the school gate while Noctis looking at the opposite side of the boy's vision with a casual air.

"Yes?" he turns his head and recognizes that boy's face, who's just another classmate.

"There's someone over there."

"Someone?"

"Yes, he must be new here, I never saw him before. And he asked me if you are from our school." he says jocosely, "Like there's someone in this city that doesn't even know where you study. And I guess you should check this weirdo."

 

Noctis' mind gets stuck, he's thrilled and agitated enough to push away everybody around him, from the boy's words he has a little bit anticipation that the weirdo he is describing is Prompto. And his mind can't get straight when he thinks so. He tried his best to not hope for this moment for a whole month, a whole month with dysphoria that even makes Ignis want to call a psychiatrist. Yet he's afraid the moment will be totally ruined if he finds out the weirdo is actually just an ordinary stranger. He is awakened by his friend's pitched laughing.

 

"Hey, Noctis, are you really okay?"

"Sorry, but where? Where is this 'weirdo'?"

"Just over there! Look! Right there across the street!"

 

Through the direction the boy is pointing, Noctis scans around, across all the pied vehicles, he sees Prompto come into his sight, standing right there, leaning against an electricity pole but jumping up in the second he sees him. He can’t believe in his own eyes. Because Prompto disguises him differently from Noctis’ pictured impression, a burgundy color sweater, a dark grey jean and a beanie covered most of Prompto's blond hair, he failed to recognize him at first. Both wave at each other, and both are shy. Noctis hates the red light in front of him that keeps the distance between the two counting down seconds like lifetime long. He walks out right after the light turns green, but Prompto is a lot faster than him who crossed the street and appears in front of him in a twinkling of an eye.

 

"Yo, Noct!" he pats his shoulder.

"Glad to see you again. I thought you would not come." he tries to calm himself down.

"Don’t say that, I never said I would not come. I had …eh.. A lot of things to settle down, so it took me a lot of time. Wait, did I hear your schoolmate say that you are… Prince Noctis?"

"Damn."

Noctis turns around as if he wants some of his audience to erase this obvious evidence, but he only sees his schoolmates making grimace at him.

"Hey, Noctis, so you know this weirdo!" one of the boys banters.

"Yep, I do. Just go home, please."

"See you tomorrow, Prince." a boy waves to him and recedes together with the other boys from the street.

 

Prompto gets stuck between them, he looks like he feels so ashamed and fretful to not know Noctis' identity. Noctis goes closer to him, whispers "It's ok." in Prompto's ear despite of the butterflies hidden in his stomach, he tries his best to be calm, to be like a proper Prince, a gentleman that he believes it'll leave a good impression to Prompto. And when he looks at Prompto's eyes, he feels that Prompto is even more rattled and nervous than he is, that makes Noctis smirk because he understands exactly where this feeling came from, that everything suddenly looks copacetic that barely refrains Noctis from smiling despite of trying his best to keep the joy down.

 

Now it's only the two there.

Noctis looks down and treads the concrete floor and then turns to Prompto whose lips lightly separate and close as if he's hesitated to speak.

"Eh. Do you mind take a walk with me? I know this place much better than you." Noctis breaks the silence.

Prompto arcs his back a bit and stares at Noctis who looks away and brushes his hair by his fingers.

"Ahaha, " he takes off his beanie and plays it in hand, "Please, Prince, show me the charm."

Noctis then leads the road, the two keep a bit of more distances than regular friends, Noctis really wants to get a bit closer to him, but he tells himself that'll be too intimated and maybe Prompto won't like it.

"And look, it's very serene here, no? " Prompto inspires the air, "So different than Lestallum, and Altissia."

"You've been to Altissia?"

"Not really, more like fly through the sky. But I heard it from a travelling companion."

"A travelling companion?" Noctis scowls, "A boy or a girl?"

"More like a lady to me. I was always curious about that place, it is still under Lucis' control but the Empire wants it so bad. I think it has become the last defense for Lucis as well. I hope the soldiers can protect the people there, the Empire only wrought havoc to every city they conquered. I don't understand why they are so obsessed with this city."

"I didn't expect you to be so interested in Politics either." Noctis looks at him.

"hmmm, " Prompto pauses, "my dad has all those types of newspapers, I like to rummage around in his old papers. "

"Interesting. I never heard any students talk about politics and my father never wants to get me involved either. You're an exception."

"Oh, " Prompto giggles, "may I share my opinion? Prince Noctis?"

"Just say it, Prompto."

"Because you're the Prince, you have to govern the country when you become the King. And now is the only time you can be free and happy. The King decided to not get you embroiled in the wrangle of war so early."

"Well, you never met my father."

"If one day I can, it's one of my wish. What do you think?"

"I wanted to show my skills to my father, to the people here, that I'll be capable of protecting the country and I'm ready. I really wish there could be a chance for me. Hey, maybe one day when you go hunting, you can call me, we go together."

"Sure, it's not fair that I never saw your skills but you saw mine."

Noctis snorts with laughter, and strangely he never feels so eager to open his heart to say something to his contemporaries. He has a small alert in his mind, not that he is afraid of Prompto's background, but to think of a good reason to not let Ignis or Gladiolus worry about this mysterious boy is another level of affliction for him that he doesn't want to be concerned, so far he just wants to enjoy this moment full of surprises.

"I'm tired of playing a feeble spoiled prince, but he was never there to listen to me." he makes a stiff bitter smile, "Sorry, I shouldn't say that."

"Not at all, Noct. Same for me, I only met Co-, I mean my dad once I arrived here. I guess dads are always busy."

Noctis lowers his head and tries to think of a new topic while glancing at Prompto's wrist where he vaguely sees some black stripes on his skin, without thinking about it, he seizes Prompto's wrist so that he can see it clearly. Prompto gets very disconcerted at first and jerked his fist free from Noctis' clenched phalanges in a discomforted confusion.

"You have a tattoo or something? " Noctis doesn't want to give up his curiosity so quickly, "Interesting, what's the pattern?"

"It's eh…" Prompto covers the barcode on his wrist in a fluttered manner as he can feel the line of sight from Noctis. He wants to confide to Noct what it is, but he has a bitter foreboding that he really shouldn't say it.

"It's ok to not say it. " Noctis senses the qualm of Prompto and gives up finally.

"Noct." his voice sobers down all of sudden, a strand of hair falls over his cheek when he decides not to circumvent it from Noctis, "Yes, it's a tattoo."

"It's ok to have a tattoo even if you're a teenager. I don't think it's a bad idea, Prompto, you don't have to be afraid to show me that."

"In…In fact, it's a barcode. The pattern, I mean-"

"Oh, I was just wondering if it is a bar-"

"Yes, " he swallows, "It's a barcode. NH-01987, 0006-0204, these are the codes, you don't want to see it. If you are interested in the meaning behind them, I can tell you now."

"I guess one day you'll be more comfortable to tell me what's the meaning of them." Noctis says gently, tries to alleviate Prompto's taut nerve.

"To be honest, I don't like them."

"But it's you who chose the pattern, no? Oh I got it, you just wanted a fancy abstruse tattoo, and the artist designed it for you."

Prompto is about to retort but a long pause of reflection is necessary for him to speak again.

"If I am from Niflheim, if I say that, that's the meaning of it, " Prompto adjusts his breath, "will you be afraid of me?"

Noctis is stumped, he doesn't know how to answer to this question. He tries to read through his eyes but can't get the point of this question at all.

"I've seen magiteks myself, I killed one or two, they had no tattoos, and as for the citizens, I saw them on TV. Why did you say that?" he frowns, "Nobody from Niflheim can live here, just impossible, don't be joking, Prompto, I don't like the Empire, nobody does."

He holds Noctis' arm, his voice sounds like he's stifling his true feeling, "You saw how many magiteks I killed."

"Exactly. You won't kill them if you are, and you love Altissia. To be honest, it's not long since we met but I don't feel anything of you related to Niflheim. Not at all. " Noctis looks at his limpid eyes and holds him close to his arms even if his hands are shaking too, "I don't know what you have been through, those magiteks in Hammerhead must have brought you trauma. And now you are living here, don't worry, I'll protect you if you come to my school. Nobody is going to threaten your life, laugh at your tattoo or you, Prompto."

Prompto makes a melancholic snort, "Noct, you just wouldn't understand. But thanks, I really appreciate it."

Inside he finds it's funny that Noctis said so, because he can chop everyone's limb off without even breaking a sweat. He knows their understandings of the conversation are totally on different levels and it's pointless to insist on it, Noctis simply won't be able to get it, normal citizens in Niflheim have no barcodes, only soldiers of next generations like him do. While thinking of it, he feels Noctis leaving him, he turns around and looks at him, and sees Noctis pointing to the caravan which is approaching with joyful music loudly and passing them.

"Oh it's the star in the city! Mocha, vanilla, chocolate, you name it!"

"What's that?!" Prompto doesn't have any idea where to look.

"Ice dream!"

Prompto chuckles, "It's funny when you are the Prince and you call an ice cream caravan 'star of the city'."

Noctis buffs, like he's got no time for the joke, he rubs Prompto’s hand on his tattoo away and seizes Prompto's wrist before Prompto has anytime to wrench, rushing to the caravan without looking back at Prompto. He jumps to the window where it displays all the favors and sincerely smiles at Prompto.

"Which one you'd like to taste? I would suggest…" his words stop, as he sees Prompto's face turning total red, "Prompto, are you okay? Did I just hurt you?" he says so while loosens his fingers.

"No.. I'm ah…" Prompto touches his own cheeks by his palms, as if they could help them cool down, his eyes fixing at the menu while trying not to care about Noctis' question too much, so flustered as if his neck gets stung, "Chocolate, maybe?"

"That's my favorite too, you've got good taste."

The boy inside the window smiles cordially at the two.

"Two chocolates!" he handles the ice creams to them, "Have a great day, Prince! And you too, royal flush."

Prompto's hands shake when he hears the boy calling him so, it makes the ice cream in his hand shakes too until Noctis helps him to hold it stably.

"Is…that…really so obvious?"

"It's okay, Prompto, don't bother it. Hurry, taste it." Noctis chortles, "Thanks." He nods at the boy.

As soon as the two leave the caravan, Noctis feels like his best moment comes, he doesn't want to enjoy his ice cream first, instead he wants to see what is Prompto's opinion. Prompto acquiesces once his tip of the tongue licks the ice cream from bottom to top, he stops licking it again.

"Wow!" Prompto's eyes are shining like a three-year-old boy who just tasted his first Halloween candy, he binges the rest of it, "I'm sorry, I felt like I was flying!"

"You see, Prompto, that's the ice cream of Insomnia. I'm very glad that you like it."

He touches Prompto's creamed lips, he wants to kiss him, but instead he just wipes the cream on the edge of his lips. Because he knows he just can't.

 

"Where is your school? If you already find one."

"My dad is still helping me on that."

"You could come to my school, if it's allowed."

"I wish so." he sighs, "But I'll try."

"If you like to explore more our history and this city, Prompto, you can come to my school library, free to everyone, open until 10pm."

"Wait." Prompto slows his pace, "Is this an invitation?"

"Of course it is." Noctis clenches his fists and licks his lips, trying to hide his nervous emotion behind and urges himself to be brave enough to speak more, "I wish I can see you again. Tomorrow, will you come?"

He feels that he has to ask that question, because his life experience taught him that happiness was always ephemeral. _Is it too harsh to ask this question?_ He doesn't know, and he feels aweful, but if there's a second chance, he probably would still ask the same question.

 

"Do you have a cellphone, or a contact number?" Prompto takes out his own phone which Cor bought him yesterday, "So that I can text you. I'm not really sure about my schedule."

"Sure."

They quickly exchange the phone numbers.

"Now we are like friends."

"Nice to meet you, Prompto." he feels absurd right after he blurts out the words.

"Nice to meet you too, Prince."

"Please, just call me Noct."

"Alright, Prince." Prompto's face gets closer to Noctis, and whispers the name, "Noct."

 

Together they walk a few more blocks of the streets interweaving among the skyscrapers and stop until Prompto asks so, because Noctis' chauffeur has followed them throughout this little journey. "It's ok, he can wait." Noctis insists, but Prompto denies in a timorous tone and tells him that he has to go home too. Noctis then goes inside the car and watches his moment of happiness waving goodbye to him through the darkish window.

 

-

 

"Welcome home!"

Prompto crosses the threshold and says to himself. His soft raspy voice echoes in the room as if he's talking to himself and he dislikes it in the next second. Ever since he started to live here, he hasn't seen anyone except Cor for only once. The 'father' that he told Noctis were all made up from his dried imagination. He doesn't know how he could describe Cor to him. 'Father' is the most appropriate word he can think of and the word Cor told him to use if anyone asked. He switches on the light and stops by the dining table, where he finds a letter in an envelope which he's going to read and an empty paper in another envelope. It's been like this ever since the second day he gets here, he has to write in the empty paper and puts it to the prepared envelope and always leaves it on the table, on the next day, it'll disappear and be replaced by a letter from Cor. That’s one of the disciplines Cor gave him.

 

The recipient that he writes to is empty. "Dear Cor", that's what's always in the beginning of his letters, like they are very closely acquainted. Despite of the gentle words he can put there, he knows what Cor wants is his daily life and whether he is in danger. Cor has told him to stay in this apartment as long as he can until things are steady enough to move on to the next step which is unknown to him yet. One month is the definition of ‘long’ to him. Since the first day he arrived here, Cor told him that the reason he could be here was because he was 'needed'. He was saved because he was needed, because of his skills. He's obliged by that, and he's glad that Lucis sees his value and rescued him from Argentum Laboratory, which he always refers as hell. And the content of the letters are about his daily routines, he knows he can't never get an answer of his puzzled life of adolescence from Cor.

 

He takes a bit rest and turns on TV for important news, and feels fortunate when there's no news for him. Nothing about Noctis. There are shows and dramas of Niflheim soldiers presented as villains and Kingsglaives as heroes. "Soldiers", he heaves a sigh, like him. And he turns off the TV and the lights of the living room. He feels sick and somehow relieved about the conversation he had today. _It's better to tell him now than never. Was Noctis aware of my identity? And why Cor said it was ok for me to get in touch with the Prince?_ For the first question, he bets that the mind of Noctis, the Prince who never experienced the life that he had wasn't even on the track to his preposterous identity. And for the second question, he still has no idea. He feels like he's using Cor and Noctis to stay here, and he hates that feeling. He's not sure if he would meet Noctis tomorrow or later.

 

Just let Cor decide, he thinks.

 

He takes out his pen from his bag and wants to write something different, something he always wanted to tell Cor ever since he met Noctis.

 

_Dear Cor,_

_I hope everything is fine on your side. As for me, I had a great day. I met Noctis, your Prince, as I told you I would. Ever since I met him, I wanted to tell him more about me, and to know more about him. Since he's at the same age as mine, there are a lot of things I'd like to learn from him too. But I didn't have enough chances and courages to do it._

_There's a secret that I have been always loath to tell you. I should have told you since our first contact but I feared that if I did, you wouldn't agree to rescue me. I wanted to get out of Niflheim so bad and I was so insecure that I kept this secret from you. Now that I am here, I don't know if it's the time to reveal it, I guess it is. There you go:_

_I kept having a nightmare when I was in that laboratory, that I was holding a sniper, aiming Noctis' head in the woods, he turned around and saw me, but I shot him right in the head. And when the bullet blasted through his flesh, I felt free, like it was my final mission and I accomplished perfectly. Now that I have met Noctis twice, it's probably very important for you to know it. And I lied to Noctis about not knowing him before. I feel like a terrible person. When I waylaid the Imperial guards in Hammerhead, I saw him and I immediately recognized him, the feeling in my nightmare rushed to my head, urging me to aim at Noct and pull the trigger, but I hesitated for a moment, I didn't want to kill him, I cried, I'm not lying, I didn't even know why I cried, and that strange feeling of complexity made my finger shake. And I got shot by one of the magiteks. I thought I was going to fail, or even die. I was lying there waiting for my time to come, but in the morning Noctis came to me and saved me from that copse. I felt very ashamed when he asked me who I was, I was totally in a mess, and I lied. I lied, Cor, I hope you can forgive me after you read this letter. And please, Cor, I know you work in military, you must have met Noctis before, if you can meet him again, tell him who I really am if you don't want me to see him._

 

His pen stops, he wants to write more but he doesn't feel the gut to do so. Then he carefully places the letter on the desk, and takes out the letter from Cor. In the letters, Cor seemed to always concern about Prompto's expenditures, at first it made Prompto worried too, for he had no money when he fled and even if he carried some treasures out of Niflheim that he probably wouldn't be able to sell them in Insomnia. But the price of the ice cream today made him realize that Cor had given him an enormous amount of money, that he probably doesn't have to worry about the financial problem in the rest of his life.

 

He wonders to the shower room like there's a big burden in his shoulder, takes off his cloths and tosses them to the washing machine, then sets time adroitly to wash them and gets ready to a shower. When the hot and pleasant water gently drenches his hair and streams through the fine lines of his spindly legs, he feels so soothed that he finds it magical. He closes his eyes, let the cascade cover his face and wet his eye lashes. Until he's fully soaked, he turns around and picks up a new bottle of shampoo which he bought from a shopping mall nearby and noticed the brand describe its scent as: The flavor of sunshine. And he loves it though he wonders why the flavor of lemons can be the flavor of sunshine, and the question no longer troubles him when the scent wafts the room's air and brings him a good mood. He knows he can only find some temporary peace here and now, maybe in the morning when he opens his eyes, he'll find himself captured, back in a cell of Zegnautus, that's why he thinks he should appreciate every precious moment that he still has.

 

He dries his hair by a bath towel and later uses it to wrap around his naked body, standing in front of the fogged mirror.

"Oh Prompto, who have you been with today?" he murmurs while marking Noctis' name on the mirror by his finger, "Prince Noctis". He flushes and quickly wipes the surface of the mirror because he finds himself stupid to write Noctis' name there. The mirror reflects the vague face of Prompto, he just stands there, staring at his tranquil eyes, wondering if a boy like him who is born in Niflheim and was designed to become a nameless soldier is capable of being a good friend of Noctis.

He blinks, and touches the invisible mark that Noctis left on his lip.

"How can that be possible?" He says in a witty tone and looks at himself tilting his head in the mirror, at least it makes him want to laugh when he says that. "And how can I convince him that I'm not a Lucisian? Maybe Noct already knows. No no," he shakes his head, "Noct wouldn't have acted like that if he did. Ah… I wish he figured it out already. Cor! And why he agreed to let me see Noctis once again instead of letting me enroll his team? Could it be another test?" he looks at his crestfallen face through the mirror, "Ahh! I wish I know! I hate tests. I want to see Noct again." he puts his fists on his palpitated heart, "I just want to. Noct…" An impulse is yielded in his heart that he suddenly scurries to the desk, crumples the letter and throws it into the garbage bin.

 

"Alright, Prompto." he said to himself, "Let's just write a perfectly normal letter to Cor."

 

What he doesn't know is that at the same time, in citadel, Noctis also finished his shower and looks at himself through his luxurious mirror, and says in a much less cheerful tone:

"Noct, did you notice that? The boys are right. " what happened today still lingers in his mind, "Prompto is weird, so weird that maybe he's… a soldier of Niflheim? That barcode, damn, what's the meaning of those numbers? No way… Damn, I just hope he's not some craziness created by the imperial maniacs, oh no, don't think in that way. That's a little too crazy, isn't it?" he starts to fear his own conjecture while looking at himself in doubting eyes, "I can't make it end here. I need to see Prompto again. " he clenches on his shirt just like Prompto is doing, "I must. No, I don't want anyone find out who he really is, even me. Do you hear it?" he says to the mirror like Prompto is on the other side, "Prompto. Be with me."


	5. Chapter 5

It's been a week since Ravus submitted his request of diplomatic departure for Insomnia and Ardyn never gave it signed. The paper was always in Ardyn's office table, and Ardyn was never in his office. His Chancellor's schedule is forever a mystery. And today, when Ravus comes back from his duties, he sees a note there when he revisits the office.

If you really wish to know why I didn't sign them, go to my manor, we can talk. - Ardyn.

So when the dusk falls, Ravus decides to visit Ardyn's manor to discus it privately, face to face and get this thing done so that he can capture Prompto and close the mission.

 

Following the allure of the moonlight, Ravus drives to Ardyn's manor according to his map. He gets off the car and rings the bell next to one of the two huge metallic gates. No one answers. He then views the manor from distance, one of the rooms is luminous by crimson lights. He looks at the overcast sky whose color turning into deeper saturated blue, wondering how troublesome it'll be if Ardyn doesn't open the gate.

 

Ardyn is surely there. So he rings the bell again, this time twice.

 

"Ravus?" Ardyn's voice full of fragility distorts in the answer machine.

"Yes, Ardyn. " Ravus bends down to get closer to the answer machine, "May I come in?"

 

With a little click, the gate opens. Ravus steps into the long winding lane.

The garden in front of him is so grand that even without beaming lamps Ravus would have no problem to walk, the two sides of the path are surrounded by mowed shrubs and flowers coquettish and unrealistic that change their forms in every angle Ravus sees them. He reaches the front door of the manor, on each side there's a derelict sculpture with a fierce but gallant visage decayed by years of efflorescence. Ardyn has once told him that the two were both Ifrit, one before he was contaminated and the other after. The door opens, to his surprise, Ardyn is wearing his official Chancellor attire which he rarely does, a refined dark gray one that covers all over his body with exquisite symbols around his collar and greyish tassels welting through each side of his arms.

"Sorry, I just got home too. We're here for business, anyway." Ardyn explains.

Ardyn presses a button on his collar to loose it and gives Ravus a stretched smile that he could give at his best attempt, but nevertheless failed and welcomes Ravus in. As soon as their eyes meet, Ravus has a feeling that Ardyn is the man he needs to avoid tonight. He doesn't want to know where Ardyn has been. Along with the dark clouds dominating the darkening sky, the disagreeable aura of Ardyn in the air can provoke all the blood and murder possible. He almost wants to turn around and say goodbye to Ardyn and go home.

 

"Come in, mon chéri."

"Thank you. I'm still surprised that you are a good gardener. "

"I appreciate that you like my art. You're here for your diplomatic visa, aren't you?"

"Yes. So you received my paper."

"It's not going to pass through me."

"I'm sorry?"

"Well, I am too."

"Ardyn, do you have a little problem with me? Why do you always thwart my plan?" Ravus urges Ardyn who's passing through the two sides of the sepia walls of the corridors before him.

"You? Don't be paranoid. Nobody in this Empire has any problem with you, and if there's one, I'm sure it's a dead one."

Ardyn stops by one of the paintings hanging on the wall. A man with the same hair color as Ardyn, standing in the middle of the painting covering his face in his hands and lowers his head like he's weeping.

"Do you think I look like this man's face, Ravus? " he glances at it, "Oh, you can't tell, he doesn't even have a face."

"Then why don't you just get the paper signed?" Ravus has no interest in his twisted arts.

"Seriously, my dear Ravus, " Ardyn gives a nonchalant chuckle, "Do you actually think, when you distinguish yourself on the streets of Insomnia, nobody will notice you? And nobody is going to know that you're the High Commander of Niflheim? And then, what? You'll just show off your diplomatic visa on their faces and say: 'Hey, I'm not here for battle I'm here for diplomacy!' I'm sorry when your shoes step on Insomnia, it's called invasion."

"Then teach me, Master Izunia, how am I going to get this mission done? Just to remind you that all the members of the info team I sent there are dead. Something must be terribly wrong there."

"Something like what?"

"Cor Leonis, that's the last words I heard from my men. He is one of the reasons I wanted to be there myself."

"Aren't you forgetting something? I'm now part of your team too."

"So you want me to send you there, alone?" Ravus finds it funny when he blurts out this idea.

Ardyn huffs, he points to his head, "Kill me now, Ravus. Be cooperative, team work!" he clings closer to Ravus, "Let me show you my 'secret chamber', after you'll understand what I'm implying."

 

Passing several turns and corners, the two arrive in a huge library. Once Ravus steps inside, an air redolent with antique book textures drifts up his nose. His eyes are amazed that the amount of books is even larger than the one in the biggest archive of Niflheim. Outside a blaze of thunder blasts the sky and pierces the ear drums of Ravus and Ardyn, Ravus says some of the words but they are drowned by the powerful explosion.

"Be my good guest, gentleman. Continue on previous topic, I was actually thinking we go to Insomnia together, not via an official visit of course."

"Now that sounds more rational." he snorts derisively, "If that's the reason why you rejected my paper, I'm sorry, I prefer to do things in solo."

"I'm more worried that such a charming man like you will be harassed by women on the street screaming at you like they see their favorite rock stars on the stages." he watches his steps and continues, "Really, Ravus, you are not the type who can follow someone in stealth."

"Then I'll prove it to you."

 

Ravus stares at window, face glowing by the palpitating radiance of the storms outside. Suddenly, he senses an eerie ray of light twinkling next to him. He searches the source of it, and finds a miniature crystal which is the exact ratio of the one hidden in Zegnautus Keep. It intrigues him that it can be that verisimilar.

"A gift from my brother, a useless toy. He's such a miser, he's got a much bigger one." Ardyns sobs while he syncs the sight with Ravus'.

"I don't know that you have a brother? I never saw him."

"I HAD a brother. My dear, who do you think I am? Ardyn Izunia, the man that never lies to Ravus Nox Fleuret. That painting, the weeping man, that's my brother."

"Thank you for your confession, I really appreciate it."

"Did you just smile?"

"No."

"Now, come back to our topic. " he smirks and joins closer to Ravus, "My brother is already dead, by the way."

"Which is?"

"Will you stay tonight?"

Ravus glazes over the obscure windows, "If that's your topic -"

"In my bedroom."

"No."

"Come on, Ravus, can't you show a little respect to me after all the things I've done to you?"

"Not on your bed."

Ardyn grips Ravus' left arm all of sudden, leaning against his chest and narrowing the remaining space between the two lips. Ravus makes no resistance, though his heterochromatic eyes show no signs of fidget when Ardyn tries to breathe in from his mouth. Ardyn twists his head and smiles, "I know you would say that." He separates from Ravus like nothing happened. He takes several steps back and presses his finger on one of the books on the shelf, "Now let me show you one of the rooms that I've never showed to anyone before. Ah, that's the real topic."

 

The whole room responds to Ardyn's action. One of the shelf begins to make irrepressible cracking sounds, chanting with the shuddering windows, slowly hides itself under the gauzy curtains and gives entrance to the downstairs ahead the two.

 

"Come inside."

"Follow you, Chancellor."

"They say that a manor has no life, but I doubt it, it's getting older every year and it'll be mortal just like humans. Humans die, houses too."

"Where are you leading me?"

"Be patient."

"Of course."

"Before we reach the destination, I'd like to propose something ancillary to you, I see that you're a frequent guest of Tiresias. Have you ever been to Level-3, or Level-E there?"

"Level-3? In the elevator I remember the button for the lowest floor is Level-2." he says while groping his way.

"You see the world is full of hidden surprises. It welcomes you cordially only when you pay attention. There's an empty space below the button, Ravus, and it lights on when you press there. Then after a few seconds, ding! You see the Level-E. E for Error."

"Why is it necessary to be hidden then?"

"You think all those cold-blooded servants just popped up from nowhere and serve you? They are tweaked down below until they are qualified. It has been quite empty there since the quality of the servants are all stable. Things are gradually changing these days, ever since Prompto escaped, a new member came, a warm-blooded one."

"Don't tell me it's Prompto's clone."

The two walls begin to show decorations, giving the signs to tell them the destination is about to arrive.

"Well, if a soldier can't be in battle field, he becomes a servant. And since Prompto escaped, Verstael tried to clone him and he gave up in the middle of process, realizing that it would take too long to be another Prompto. So he ended the experiment and now that clone is in Level-E."

"Now that's some big news, I'm sure his tattoo's different."

"NH-01987, 0006-0205. Prompto's was 0204. It was a fortuitous accident, several days ago, I went there to find some new cherries on the spur of the moment and when I was there I saw him being newly transferred. I don't remember his name exactly, how his name is spelled? " Ardyn tilts his head.

"Thank you Ardyn, for telling me that you slept with a clone of Prompto, which is not very useful for me. And I'm not interested to hear more."

"I didn't fuck him, he's very good looking though."

"That's not the point!" Ravus stirs.

"Ah, but don't you find it useful? It's a total waste to let this boy be putrid there. He could be one part of our plan."

"No." he turns the suggestion down flat.

"May I know why?" Ardyn stops and gapes at him, "Don't tell me you started to like Prompto."

"If the boy you described is truly a clone of Prompto, he's not a commodity, but an actual human."

"Like you actually care about an actual human." Ardyn glances at him disdainfully, "What's the matter? The more you dig the case, the more you're beguiled by his innocent face?"

"Not true." Ravus' voice sounds agitated.

"Or did his intimacy with Noctis remind you one of your adolescent days in Tenebrae?"

"I hope you let aside your sexual innuendo and think about the burden I'm carrying." Ravus continues to deny, "You have no idea how many words Verstael invented every day to castigate me, I need to get out of the mission as soon as possible. I don't want to cause any further ramifications."

"Fine. If that's the reason, I still like to retain our mutual trust. If you're against it, I simply consider it as a bad one." Ardyn stops as they reach the end of the stairs. He pushes the hidden door open, gesticulating to Ravus and turning the lights on.

 

"Here we are."

As Ardyn's finger flicks several times on the switch, a cadent sound falls and the space is lightened with beam blue lights. Ardyn is actually not too far away, he's standing in the middle of the room and becomes a solemn decoration to a huge spaceship next to him. The room is in the absolute silence, only the steps of Ravus can be heard now as he walks closer to the spaceship. He quickly recognizes the emblem on its metallic surface, it's not the one of Niflheim, but the one of Lucis. He has seen this type of spaceships before, they may not be compatible to the speed of Niflheim's ships, but they have a superlative advantage that's unreachable and decipherable for them yet: Invisibility.

 

"Shall I show some of my reverence to your upcoming ritual?"

"Ritual? No, Ravus, don't make me laugh. It's just one of the spaceships of Lucis. They don't manufacture a lot of spaceship as we do, but still when they defended Altissia, they deployed some and went quite successful, and thanks to Loqi, I captured one."

"But you didn't report it, instead you kept it here. How?"

"Of course I didn't, they would just treat it as garbage like the rest of the ships. Now you know why I had to pick Loqi up. I regretted it when I heard you were doing Aranea."

"How could it be possible?"

"I asked myself this question as well."

Ravus can't believe his own eyes, he scrutinizes the ship in each angle. When his finger touches the inlay of symbol carved on the surface, he's fully convinced that Ardyn literally captured a spaceship of Lucis and kept it in one of his secret chambers.

"I still remember the days when we captured their spaceships and had our men study them, however we never figured out how to start its engine. We even imitated their form of their magic, but nothing came out. I'm curious how you can put it here."

"It's a curse that nobody was willing to save from me, Ravus. I know how to control those spaceships."

"How? Tell me." He shudders when Ardyn suddenly seizes his arm.

"You just Don't Ask."

Ravus flings Ardyn away. His forehead oozes with sweat. He has done researches from Ardyn's background before. No families, no origins, and the only history left on his profile is the very recent ones. He always wondered how the Emperor found this man and how he became the chancellor. He mulls over what he sees and one idea comes across his mind. As one of his excellent technicians told him: Only the royal families of Lucis and Kingsglaives can drive this spaceship. He stares at Ardyn's back who's asking him something about Aranea which he isn't mind caring now, Ardyn must be either one of the royal families of Lucis or one of Kingsglaives. The more he looks at Ardyn's face, the more he's convinced that Ardyn is a Lucisian. He's now amazed how well Ardyn hid from his true identity, maybe because he has lived in Niflheim too long that he learned to hide his Lucisian traits, and the Emperor is probably not the first one he served.

"Are you still listening? Ravus."

"I'm always listening."

"If the Empire's target is Lucis, then my target is only one." His eyes glare, "Noctis Lucis Caelum, the youngest heir to the Lucisian throne. I like to see him in pain. Let's use this spaceship to fool their anti-radar system and bring our Prompto back. He loves this boy, I can smell it through his supercilious royal blood."

_So many years, Ardyn, my Chancellor, all these new technologies, experiments, colonization, none can compare to your obsession of the Lucis Kings. Now I know why. But still…_

"I understood your devotion and loyalty to the Empire. " he lifts his head a little, "This sounds too risky to me. We're not sure if it's yet invisible to their anti-air radar."

"It'll work, if you let me do the job. Just to correct at this point, I'm doing it for myself, not for the Empire." he taunts him softly, "Come, don't you miss Insomnia? I know you do."

Seeing Ardyn dexterously opening the gate of the ship and urging him to come inside, he knows it's already impossible to refuse his invitation.

"There's only left one issue, " Ravus hops in, "where to find the target?"

"Oh Ravus, you asked too many questions tonight. Yes, I know exactly where to find the target. You know what's their biggest news of this season? Their fireworks festival."

Ardyn touches the handle, suddenly, the lights of the ship turn on, so bright and burning that they scorch every corner of the room. With several flashes of lights after, the ship volatilizes into thin air.


	6. Chapter 6

"Noct, when you get to the fireworks show with Prompto, be careful not to go to a remote place, always stay in public, and pay attention to the time, and don't be to late home. Remember that Gladio and I will keep our guards, don't try to run away from us. If anything happens, we'll be there." Ignis stands behind Noctis, facing a mirror and tidying Noctis' hair.

"Ignis, you have given me this lecture at least 20 times already!" Noctis snaps. 

"Just one last time before you go out. Since it's the first time you go out with someone." 

Ignis gently strips off Noctis' royal garment and goes back to Noctis' bed for his prepared kimono quickly because he doesn't want his prince to be naked for too long. Noctis' arms cooperatively stretch in the air, looking at the déjà vu scene through the mirror, reminding himself how lonely he was on last year's anniversary fireworks show. Ignis comes closer to him, put the subtle fabric onto Noctis' skin, a cobalt blue piece with slate gray diagonal stripes that outline his slim silhouette and embellish his pale skin perfectly.

 

"I heard you got Prompto one with the same pattern." he says while smoothing the clothing.

"Yep, how do you know?"

"From your tailor, he made it, didn't he?"

"The idea was mine, not his, " Noctis corrects him, "well, oartially. I just told him to get rid of some of the ornamental needlework, the ones that are done by golden silks, it won't fit Prompto well, the main pattern is the same. See?" Noctis enjoys his look in the mirror, "We're going to wear the same garment, just like a couple."

"I can see that you're really looking forward to it." Ignis smiles, proudly putting his hands on Noctis' shoulders.

"Of course I am. It'll be the first time I see him wear kimono. Oh, what time is it? " the prince reads his watch, "Ah! I'll be late! No time for chitchat."

"Don't move!" Ignis takes a few steps back, making sure Noctis is ready to go, he claps his hands, "Yes, you can go now."

"Thank you, Ignis, thank you for everything you've done."

 

Several days ago, while everybody was excitedly talking about the upcoming fireworks festival, Prompto didn't seem to even understand what was fireworks. It took Noctis quite a long time to give Prompto a detailed explanation of it, what they needed to dress and to participate, and what could they see during the show. However, at the end of the lesson, they both realized that they had a big problem with it: Prompto had no kimono at all. Every Noctis' classmate has one, because when they graduated from junior high school, they had to wear one to attend the ceremony. It just surprised Noctis that Prompto didn't own one. As the date of the festival was coming close, he then brought Prompto to his brilliant personal tailor and asked the man to make a kimono for Prompto in 3 days. Noctis insisted, because he also wanted to show off his tailor's stellar skills and also he didn't trust Prompto's personal sartorial taste. 

 

Shortly after 7pm, when Noctis arrives at the rendezvous, the parade is already congregating sporadically to each of the street stalls. Prompto is not there, Noctis thought he arrived earlier at first, until he turns around and catches Prompto in a fleeting glance. He feels his 'mission' is fulfilled when he sees Prompto is clad in the same garment as his and looks absolutely gorgeous. There, Prompto is at an air-gun stall with a kid who's around 5 years old, plucking Prompto's sleeve and pestering him something. Prompto smiles to the kid and gently persuades the kid to loosen his hand, pointing to one of the prize on the wall and asking him if it's the right one. The boy nods, then Prompto nods too. He pays the price for one round, takes over the air gun from the shop assistant, shoots the target down precisely without even taking time to aim. Seeing such an amazing result, the kid claps and capers jubilantly with cheers. Prompto accepts the prize and gives it to the boy and pats his head. Until this moment, he finally notices the sight from Noctis behind and chortles.

"I'm sorry for the waiting." Prompto goes up to Noctis.

"Oh, not at all. I just arrived. You've got some amazing skills. It's such a shame that they didn't put Justice Monsters Five here, I'm the top player on their global chart."

"There are a lot of mini-games here, why don't we have a match?"

"Sure. Here, Prompto." he gives a "dango" the he took time of his waiting to buy two skews from a girl who passed by.

"I never tasted it before, it's sweet dumplings, right?" Prompto quickly swallows one and the pouting face makes Noctis smile.

"Delicious, right? Everybody loves dango. Since it's the first time you wear a traditional garment, I want your opinion, " Noctis looks at the shoes of Prompto, "Are you comfortable with those?"

"Not really." he looks down and giggles, "But I love to wear them."

Noctis laughs, "Me too! You know what, Gladio hates them, do you still remember Gladio? The tall guy, with tattoos."

"Of course I do, and Ignis, the best cooker, am I right?"

"Prompto the intelligent boy."

"Don't make me blush."

 

As Noctis roves with Prompto, he makes a daring attempt, he hooks one arm to Prompto's svelte waist. Prompto's waist gets stiffened first, but quickly accords to it and gets closer to Noctis.

Noctis is slaked for Prompto's consent, he puts the other hand to his pocket and says confidently, "I'd like to give you a tour guide today. You know what, I bet the media is going to report me. " he continues, "The journalist will probably write, 'This year Prince of Lucis is not alone.' 'Oh! Who's the blond next to Noctis.' Bla-bla-bla." 

"I hope there won't be any pictures." Prompto suddenly becomes very stern, "If they have, please let them delete my photos." 

"I can't." He didn't really notice the concern in Prompto's tone. 

"But you're the Prince." 

"Even my dad can't control the media. And even if they took photos and publish them, I'll tell everyone that you're just my boyfriend." 

"Ah! Don't say that!"  Prompto pouts.

"No, I won't." Noctis sniggers and makes a conciliatory gesture, "It seems that you're very worried."

"It's just I don't like to be exposed to the public." 

"Most likely they will mosaic your face if they didn't ask for permission to publish it. Maybe there won't be any news at all. Don't worry Prompto. Let's go for some fun." 

"Follow your order, Prince." 

 

The two saunter on the bustling street, eat almost every kinds of snacks they can see and play every kinds of game caught in their interests until they get too much attention. They give away all their prizes, and decide to move to a less crowded spot where they can share some private time together, and Noctis has an idea for that. They pass through a sinuous alley, and a few walks forward they stop at a small temple.

  

"You know there's one thing you must do in this festival." 

"Which is?"

"I don't know if you have heard about it. I forgot to mention it last time, " he accepts two pieces of paper from an old lady in the temple and gives one piece to Prompto, "you make one wish, write it down, and hang it on the billboard there."

"And this wish will magically come true? Wow." Prompto blinks at him, puzzled.

"It's one of the tradition, yep, maybe one of Six will come to read it and realize it. I mean, it has to be a good reason to be kept for so long."

"Hmm, then I must carefully think about what to write."

"You don't have any wishes?"

"I do, Noct." Prompto looks a bit embarrassed, "I have one now."

"Let's write it down."

Noctis quickly finishes his writing, he turns around and tries to peek at what Prompto's writing, but Prompto is very aware of it and hides the paper too well from him. 

"Don't look, Noct, didn't the old lady say the wish will not be answered if it's not a secret? It's really important to me, and I wish it'll come true one day."

"No, I really didn't look."

 

Noctis wonders what wish Prompto has written, as for him, he wrote "be with Prompto forever" on that paper.

"Such an adorable boy you have, Prince Noctis. I remember last time when you were here, you were alone. It's good to see you have a friend now." the old lady smiles and approaches to them.

"Thank you, madam, you know he's actually my - "

"NO! Noct, it's not funny to make such a joke."

Noctis laughs, he gives a sorry face to Prompto and the old lady, "my best friend."

Strolling along the wooded path, they discover a more sequestered spot where there is nobody. So they decide to take a break before moving on.

"Thank you, Prompto."

"What have I done?" he continues to ask. 

"To be with me. That's enough to make me happy. " he straightens his back, "No matter where you're from, or who you are. You're here for me and my solitude, thanks for that."

"You know what?" Prompto chuckles.

"Yes?"

He's waiting for Prompto to tell him what it is, but instead Prompto hugs him tightly. 

"Prompto?"

"Just let me hug you like this for a while." 

"Ehmm, ok." Noctis doesn't know if he should cover his hand on Prompto's back.

"It's like a miracle, months ago, my life was totally different, and now I'm with you, the Prince of Lucis."

"Prompto, " he hugs him tighter, "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you love me?"

Prompto softly pushes Noctis body, gazing at Noctis with his glittering eyes. He's unable to answer it like it's a too difficult question. 

"Noct, just kiss me please." 

His voice is so mild that it makes Noctis thrill. Looking at his perfect lips slightly open, Noctis is electrified, he's so enthralled with this moment and his heart stops in a second when he guesses the answer, his ear starts to burn and not waiting for another second, he kisses him so deeply that Prompto has to hold him firmly to not lose his balance. Noctis pushes him into one of the boughs among the woods behind, reaching his hand to Prompto's shoulder and striping his kimono impatiently. He's so gratified for that because this garment makes the stripping so easy for him. His finger goes through the fine lines of Prompto's bareback. It's the first time he's able to touch there, it arouses him that his fantasy has finally come true. He kisses Prompto's slender neck and unblemished shoulder voraciously till they bloom in pink.

"Your skin is so smooth, but you're a man." he can even feel the wheezing from Prompto's nostrils.

"I don't know, you don't like it?" his voice tightens.

"No, I love it." he enjoys the little shivers from Prompto's glimmering throat, "It's cute that minutes ago you were worrying about the journalists and now you ask me kiss you."

Prompto snorts, he tries to imitate everything Noctis just did, from his kiss to his movement, "Don't you notice? There's nobody here."

"Really?" Noctis gives Prompto one last kiss and checks his watch, "Damn, it's almost 9pm?! Come on Prompto, we must catch the best spot!" 

"Noct, it's ok, we can see the fireworks here too." 

"No, I insist! It's your first firework show, it must be perfect for you." 

Noctis takes Prompto's hand, through the pavements of cobbled road, they get out of the woods and sprint towards the distracting lights, crossing a bridge constructed by rocks and then stops in front of a row of balusters.  

"Now this is the place, usually there's no one here. It's the best spot but nobody except me found it."

"Are you sure it's a safe place?" Prompto looks back at the woods furtively, "There really isn't anyone here."

"Prompto, just relax and watch."

Everything is at peace, a waft of wind sweeps between the two. Suddenly a white flame atop the Cidatel, the fireworks has begun. While Noctis expects to enjoy this precious moment with Prompto, Prompto's manner changes in a flash, looking at the prince in a way of fretfulness, like he is looking at something really frightening that deters him. Noctis' heart twinges, he never expects something like this, he tries to catch Prompto, but Prompto hollers something in consternation and shoves Noctis away. His voice however is muffled by the overwhelming waves of people and deafening sounds of the incessant fireworks. People in far distance start to gather together, cheering in this blessing moment. But Prompto doesn't allow Noctis to do the same, he pushes Noctis away and flees. Despite the exclamation of Noctis, Prompto jumps into the forest. Noctis quickly follows, but he's already nowhere to be found. 

"Prompto!" He yells, "I'm sorry, if I did anything that frightened you! Please, don't hide from me like that!" 

His voice echoes through the woods, even the animals who's taking night sleeps are awakened. There's no response from Prompto, and there's no trace of him either, he's like a man who never existed here. He turns to every corner of the forest, looking for him in a state of turmoil while the voice of everybody else is piercing his heart. Despite of the dozens of minutes that past, he still doesn't want to give up. He gets himself together and asks several couples close by if they saw him. Sometimes even if he's the prince, the title just can't help him any. Face covered by his palms, he wants to cry for his temporary impertinence. Too late to cry and too late to apologize. 

  

He looks at the fireworks making the night like the day, but he feels nothing but chaos. Soon, Ignis and Gladio join him, asking him what happened to him and where is Prompto. Noctis can't utter a good description for it. Ignis and Gladio look at each other perplexedly, they both agree to take Noctis back home for now. Gladio has to grip Noctis' arm to prevent him from running into the woods again.

 

"Just give me one more hour, that's all I ask for." Noctis cries out, "I need to know what's going on there!"

"Exactly! You don't know what's going on there, and neither do we." Gladio chastens, "Let's go home for now, the guards are very secured here, if they find Prompto they will most likely report to us."

"Yes, Noct, leave him to us. We'll inform all the security guards to check if there's anything dubious. As for now, your safety is our first priority." Ignis says.

"What if…" Noctis' voice trembles, "he's captured by one of our enemies."

"This is Insomnia, not Hammerhead, if there's any enemy here, the siren should already be hooted."

Suddenly, an elderly man wearing a fedora appears near them seems to hear their conversation and asks the Prince if there's anything urgent. 

"Did you see a blond? Slightly shorter than me and very close to my age?" his eyes are already rheumy.

"Oh!" the elderly man makes a sanctimonious countenance like he knows something that matters, "Yeah. I saw him, with another man." 

"Another man?" 

"A man with silver hair, and they look quite close, like a couple to me." 

"Is it fun for you to talk nonsense, sir?" Noctis snaps back.

"What's the matter, Prince? Maybe he's just a fickle boy. One day he likes you and the next day he might already fall in love with someone else." 

"Who are you to judge him? Get out of my sight! I don't want to see your face ever gain." Noctis almost loses his ability to curb his temper.

"Have a good night, cranky Prince. And goodbye gentlemen." the elderly man gives a baleful smirk and turns away.

  

\- 

 

"You don't have to have disguised yourself as that old man and mocked Noctis." Ravus reproves Ardyn who's back to his original form, helping Prompto to get on their ship. Prompto's wrists are bound as they don't want the first class sniper to have any chances to wreck the ship or escape.

"Why not? You'll never have a second chance to do that. Besides, he's probably crestfallen now and will never bother Prompto again, good for us." 

"Fine, mission complete. Let's go back." 

"I thought our secret trip in Insomnia could last a bit longer. " Ardyn looks at Ravus who's examining the blood stain on Prompto's swelling forehead despite Prompto's struggling, "Don't worry about him, he won't die." 

Ravus sits back and takes a breathe of relief, "Thanks to my close combat tactics. " Ravus pushes Prompto down to the seat, helping him to fasten the seat belt and sits face to Ardyn. 

The airship ascends and gets ready for its way back to Nifleheim. There are minutes of quiet inside the ship. Nobody talks, and nobody moves. Ravus simply holds Prompto's back to avoid him falling from the seat, and Ardyn is too busy to setting his ship to auto-pilot mode. When the ship soars through the central park, Prompto tries his best to look down. 

"You're not going to see Noctis again, boy." Ravus closes the cabin door besides Prompto. 

Prompto keeps quiet, his neck is tight and red with fury, his smoldering eyes blazing at Ravus in exasperation for what he just said. When Ardyn comes back to his seat facing them, instantly he slaps Prompto face, and when Ardyn is about to slap him again, Ravus stops him. 

"Blindfold him, Ravus." Ardyn says whimsically, looking at Prompto's glowering eyes, "Or gag him. I'd like to know what he will act when he's humiliated."

"Leave him. He has every reason to hate me now." 

Ardyn sits back, "You know what? I think you really like him."

"He's not our enemy. " Ravus articulates each word, "I just don't want to see him black and blue. I say we stay in Aracheole Stronghold for one night then. Let me bring some medical supplies for him, settle down everything, have a good rest. I need to make sure he's healthy enough to not get Verstael freak out, then. we go back to Zegnautus Keep the day after. What do you think?" 

"Aracheole Stronghold." Prompto stammers, it reminds him that was the place his feet first landed outside of Niflheim, now he has to get back there, like a sign of everything returning to zero. And he can't imagine himself lying on a cot in it, as it is designed for Magiteks.

"You should feel relieved, boy, " Ravus turns to him, "as I'm protecting you from this man." 

"Excuse me, High Commander, since when you thought I liked this boy? My task is done, the rest is left for you. I'm not going to spend my night in Aracheole, I have more fun things to do. Prepare some good words when you're back to see Verstael." 

"I'll meet you when I get back to Niflheim, we can discuss that after." 

"I'll drop you there then." 

 

When the ship reaches the destination, Ravus holds Prompto's arm to help him prepare for the landing. 

"No! Don't touch me, you idiot!" 

Ardyn laughs, "Poor Prompto, without a rifle he's like a caged canary. How lovely." 

"We have arrived." Ravus opens the cabin door, "Now get off."

With wrists bound, Prompto has to rely Ravus' grip to keep his balance. Ravus bows to Ardyn, then the main gate of the stronghold opens. A beam of light flashes into Prompto's eyelids, his feeling of seeing all the red-eye soldiers and heavy armies once again aches his heart. Two soldiers come to them and lead the way to a room situated in the center of the stronghold. When they enters inside, Ravus takes a relieved sigh and unties Prompto. He places his sword on a chiffonier.  

"Welcome to Arachoele Stronghold's best rest room. " he says without glancing at Prompto, "The medical kit is in the second drawer. Use the bathroom to sterilize yourself. And don't even think about escaping." 

Prompto swallows. He looks around, the room is indeed not as bad as he expected. One bed, one bathroom, one desk and one chiffonier, all meets the minimum standard of a rest room. On the desk there is a transmitter and a sensor. The engine of imperial ships patrolling the area can be easily heard from here. What Ravus warned him is true, there is no way he can sneak through the outside under Ravus' eyes. He goes to the corner of the room, pulls the first drawer and sees a suit of magiteks lying inside. 

"I'm not wearing those." 

"Then don't wear it, alright? I have no objection if you prefer to wear your kimono when you're back to Niflheim. They are not for you anyway, they are for the commanders." 

"I have nothing else to wear then, the kimono, " Prompto touches his sleeves and snivels, "is torn by you." 

"My sincerest apology, I'll see if I can get you a new one from Lestallum tomorrow."

"There… is only one bed here." Prompto knows it's a stupid hint but it bothers him since he enters the room. 

Ravus goes to him in a daunting aura, Prompto flinches and compromises, "I got it!" He pulls the second drawer, takes out the medical kit and disappears in the bath room. 

15 minutes later, Prompto gets out of the bathroom and Ravus is staring at him like his eyes never moved away from that door of the bathroom since he gets in. He then stands up, holding a long red ribbon in one hand and asking Prompto to come to him. Prompto follows the order in a startled manner. He stops when Ravus comes closer to him and wraps loosely the ribbon on his left wrist. 

"What are you doing? Let me go, idiot!" 

"It's an affront to talk to me like that, as I now tell you, I'm the High Commander of the Empire and you should at least call me Sir." He says so while wrapping the other verge of ribbon on his own right wrist, "Done. A bit suspicious, don't you think?" 

"About me." 

"No. The Chancellor, he left first without any hesitation. I'm afraid he'll be back for whatever reason that is, just in case." He holds Prompto's arm, "Now have a sleep." 

"I'm not in the mood of sleep... Sir." He looks at the bed which is too narrow for two men, he doesn't think that Ravus and him can both fit in. 

"I am. And if anything happens." Ravus ignores Prompto's confession and sits in an armchair next to the bed, "just pull the ribbon and I'll wake up and help you." 

Like there can be things even worse. Prompto gets on the bed. He's a bit grateful that Ravus is willing to leave the bed to him, though he still hates him. Then the lights are off. Prompto turns his head, nose pointing away from Ravus who's closing his eyes, he wants to ask something about his future, but Ravus already closes his eyes and doesn't seem to have any interest to talk. 

 

He falls asleep an hour later. The clock after rotates in light speed, soon it is the midnight. Just when Prompto turns his body unconsciously, he feels a vague uneasiness as his body is so heavy that makes his attempt fail, something or someone is crawling up on him and pressing against his body. The room is in absolute silence, even the clock on wall seems to have stopped because it makes no sound. He strives to open his eyes, and when he makes it he gasps nervously at the sight of the thing in front of him, it's Ardyn's wicked face. He wants to scream but his mouth is gagged by Ardyn's hand, his mind quickly switches to what Ravus advised him early, he pulls the ribbon, only to find that it's already cut off. He then desperately catches the other side of the Ribbon but Ardyn clasps his wrist.

"Try to wake up Ravus? No, his time is stopped now, he can feel nothing and he's not going to budge at all."

"Ravus…" Prompto mutters, "Wake…up…"

"Did you enjoy Noctis' tongue, there?"

He can feel Ardyn's tongue first licking his jawline. His body squirms, trying to extricate himself from this humiliation but he's hit by a brutal blunt force and he's forced to lying face-down. Though both of Ardyn's hands are free from him, he can't even breathe, not alone make a sound. Like his body is being paralyzed and the only thing left is his feeling, the feeling of Ardyn's damp tongue on his upper arm, stroking from his shoulder blade to his spine.

"Such smooth skin, no wonder Noctis loves the taste." Ardyn stops his movement. "But may I ask, has Noctis ever touched you, here?" he makes a wicked chuckle and starts to pull Prompto's boxers, his finger slides into the groove and presses harder and harder.

Prompto's body stiffens at the shock he's taking on. He uses all the strength he has and finally he's able to bleat a feeble sound.

"Ra…vus… help me…" he says in a trembling whisper.

Feeling one of his fingers regaining some strength, he reaches the other verge of the ribbon and pulls it. Ravus seems to sense the ribbon tautening, through the gloomy moonlights he sees Ravus' eyes flutter a bit. Prompto sheds tears from a partial relief to see his efforts finally take effect .

Suddenly, the lights are on, and Ravus jumps up from his armchair. Everything is back to normal. Ardyn is nowhere to be found. Prompto is free to move and the clock starts to tick again.

 

"What happened?" Ravus looks at the scabrous margin of the ribbon, and then checks the window ajar, "Did someone break in?" 

Prompto takes this crack of time to put back his kimono on, his hands are still trembling. 

"Are you alright? Did this someone try to hurt you?" Ravus seems to be very concerned. 

"Nothing serious happened." Prompto wipes his tears and lies, "I had a nightmare."

Ravus is skeptical about this answer. He wants to check Prompto's body, but again Prompto refuses him.

"What time is it now?" 

"I don't know. 3AM? Sorry, Sir, my head is still a bit groggy." 

"You've still got some time to sleep."

"I can't sleep here. I just can't."

Ravus looks at his tumid eyes and the ribbon at his hand, the mystery is suddenly unlocked.

"If you say so." he goes to the chiffonier and pulls one of the drawers, "Sorry, we leave now." 

"What? Again?! No!" 

Despite of his retort, Ravus carries Prompto onto his shoulder and gives him an anesthetic shot on his arm. Making sure Prompto is no longer able to struggle, he leaves the rest room and closes the door behind.

 

"I need to requisition a ship." he talks to the guard outside. 

 

\- 

 

"Prompto, Prompto, get up and fight." a very familiar voice calls him. The air-siren of the Zegnautus Keep alarms outside incessantly.

"No, I don't want to fight anymore."

"Prompto, Prompto, get up and fight." the familiar voice repeats the words.

"I don't want to get up."

"If you don't get up, you'll fail the test."

"I hate tests, I don't want them anymore. No, wait! Aren't the tests already over!"

"Prompto, get up and fight."

 

Then Prompto suddenly opens his eyes. He realizes that it's just a nightmare and that was just the voice of one of his scientists. He gets up from the bed very deliberately, his legs feel so sore. And he has no idea where he is because when he looks through the skylights tightly shuttered, all he can see is absolute void. Nothing but black is behind those hollow glasses. There are no other windows in this room. It gives him a strange sense of abhorrence when he hears the air-siren of the Zegnautus Keep that's really alarming outside. He's very close to Zegnautus Keep now, there's no doubt about it. But even the darkest sky of Gralea can't compete with such darkness. He speculates that what's outside is just from another indoor. He had a slight hope that Noctis in the end would rescue him, but quickly he gives up this hope when he has a peculiar fear inflected on him that he might be locked up in a place unknown. He walks slowly and reluctantly to check his surroundings, the decorations and furniture are so delicate but sophisticated that he can't really tell the age from his learned knowledge. All those feelings of unknown makes him thrill. _Where am I? And h_ _ow long_ _I'm_ _going to dwell here? And what is_ _Ravus_ _' purpose for keeping him here?_ _There's no way Noctis can rescue me from_ _Ravus_ _._ His gait is irregular that his attempt to walk further to the door ends in a failure. He still hates himself for not noticing Ravus holding a needle in his hand and successfully giving him an anesthetic shot. 

There is a yellow piece of paper lying on a desk that he notices. He doesn't want to pick it up and read it because he had a terrible foreboding that it would bring bad news that his heart would not be able to afford. After another hour of rest, he appeases himself and restarts his little tour. He ends up standing at the desk. He picks the paper up and reads it despite of the blurry vision and trembling hands still caused by the side effects of the anesthetic shot. 

 

_By the time you read this letter, you're already in detention, which means you're already inside_ _Zegnautus_ _Keep. As you can see, you're not in the lab yet._ _I've given you the best cell of the prison. I bought some cloths from_ _Lestallum_ _as you requested last night. Relax, no one is going to hurt you now._ _Ardyn_ _,_ _Verstael_ _and I contrived a short meeting during which we decided what were the options left for you. Since you are a deserter, you can no longer go to my team to be one of my men as you were designed to. However,_ _Verstael_ _didn't agree with me on taking you to my team. After_ _two hours of contention, he finally agred, but only with one condition:_ _to wipe out your memories since the days you absconded._ _It's the best option I can offer you._ _The second option, I guess you might already know, is to send you back to the Argentum Lab but without wiping out your memories._ _I'm a man with patience, I don't expect you to respond to me now. I give you maximum one week_ _to think about it. If you are ready to confess_ _your decision_ _, tell the concierge (he's usually downstairs) and I'll be back ASAP and hear_ _it_ _._ _-_ _Ravus_ _Nox_ _Fleuret_

 

Without thinking of the consequences, he tears the paper apart and smashes everything on the surface of the desk to the ground. He cannot think of anything malignant enough to curse, not really cares where is this concierge. He hollers and cries in agony until his voice becomes so coarse that it can no more tolerate another cry. He collapses on the ground. Sweeping the room through his swollen eyes, finally he sees the robotic concierge curiously look at him, like it doesn't understand why he has tears.


	7. Chapter 7

"Ignis, excuse me if I interrupted you." Cor leans against the wooden door of Ignis bedroom.

Ignis looks at the tranquil dark sky outside through the chiffon curtain, he puts aside unwillingly the book which his mind is still lingering through and asks, "Mr. Leonis, what brings you here?"

"May I invite you to go for a walk tonight? The sky is clear, the air is fresh, it's therapeutic to stretch your legs and amble along the fountain in the courtyard, don't you think?"

Ignis smiles and stands up, "Thank you for your invitation, Mr. Leonis. Let's go for a walk then."

"In fact, more than just a walk. You'll see when we reach the destination."

 

The two's silhouettes appear in the main valley of the courtyard, leisurely enjoying this limited evening time passing by. Through the illuminating path lit by the candles paved aside the rocks into the forest, their soft gaits are imprinted as shadows under the pale moonlight. Not until the end of the path, Ignis slows his pace and stares at the forest of great trees before them.

"Mr. Leonis, something is wrong? I know you won't invite me for a walk for no reasons. You never did that." Ignis shakes his head and pushes his glasses.

"I bet you already have an answer, don't you?"

"Noctis?"

"Has he ever talked about Prompto to you?"

"He's a bit melancholic recently, I guess it's about him. No, he rarely talks about Prompto to me, and just as you mentioned now, he never talked about Prompto ever since he went away. He locks his door from these topics. Anything that touched Prompto was shut down by him in a second."

"Of course he can be melancholic sometimes. Bad scores, a lost match, whatever, we've been through them too. But this time it's a bit different."

"I know. I really wanted to tell him the truth, that Prompto is from Niflheim. I couldn't imagine what Noctis would react one day when he heard this truth. It aches me that I have to keep secrets from him. He had nightmares recently, I tried my best to alleviate his temper, facing his despondency as much I can, in hope of replacing my regret for not telling him the truth."

"Prompto needed a friend, and same for Noctis. " Cor gazes the stars, "That was why I asked you and Gladiolus for help instead of separating them."

"Prompto was the one that I should have protected well besides Noctis, though I failed."

"Don't blame yourself too much. Noctis' life was your first priority, is and will be. It'll be fine. I'll report to the King that mission failed, Prompto can no longer join us."

Ignis heaves a heavy sigh, "The situation at this point is quite hopeless. I'm afraid that's the only option left. It's such a shame that he was repatriated."

"What bugs me the most is how he was captured, as the security of this year is the most solid."

"And don't forget the spot that Prompto vanished had an anti-radar system installed. Mr. Leonis, you're more an expert in this area than I am, please tell me, would it be possible that someone hijacked one of our stealth spaceships?"

"It's a good question, as far as I know, none of our spaceships is reported missing recently. Plus, all of our anti-radar is capable of detecting our own ships except the first prototype, but it was never put on mass production for some unknown reason."

"You made me curious too, Mr. Leonis. Is this prototype still in one of our bases?"

Cor gives a smile as soft as he can give, "Not in my knowledge. Don't bother it, I'll keep doing investigations. Oh, there he is."

"He? There's someone else strolling in this dark night?"

Cor nods at Ignis. Ignis syncs his eye sight with Cor's, looking at a fountain in haze not far away from them where he sees someone slouching on the rock surface and dangling his legs. Half of his body is covered in shadow, and the night makes it difficult for Ignis to recognize who that is, until he gets closer, he realizes that's his prince. He looks at Cor, flummoxed at why he brings him here. Cor pats Ignis' shoulder and gives him a nod.

"Good evening, Ignis, Cor."

"Ah, Noct, it's good to see you here. You look, pale."

"Never mind my complexion. Cor told me he had to discuss something among the three of us, right, Cor?"

"Really? Mr. Leonis?"

Then Cor clears his throat and starts his explanation.

"It's about -" Cor pauses, a bit dithering on continuing as he sees Noctis' fingers suddenly clenches on the verge of the rock, "Prompto."

"Please, continue."

"Your Highness, please accept my sincerest apology that I have kept his secret from you since the beginning."

"He's from Niflheim, right? What else?"

Ignis and Cor gape at each other, surprised at the acute perception of their prince.

"Since when did you know his identity?"

"Since I saw his barcode. I knew it. Hmm, so we both know it, just neither of us had the boldness to divulge it to the others. " says he amusedly, "Cor, continue the story, I'd like to hear how this all happened."

"Allow me to continue from the start."

"Exactly what I want." says Noctis while looking at the scintillating candle fire.

Cor bows, "We have one of our spies implanted in Niflheim for quite a long time. From her - "

"Her?"

"Yes. If you are interested in her name, it's Aranea Highwind. There are only four persons that know her true identity. Ignis, Gladiolus, Your Majesty, and me."

"I remember Prompto said he had a female partner that he traveled with. It must be her."

"He must have confessed to you a lot."

"In fact, not much."

"From her we learned a secret project of the Empire. They were developing a new generation of Magitek. And if that's not something new, what's more interesting is that the top scientist, Verstael, changed his researching orientation suddenly, believing that he hadn't dug the true potential of humans yet, that can surpass all the Magiteks they had now. And the laboratory that supported his research was called Argentum Lab." Cor pauses.

"And?" Noctis stands up and urges him.

"The laboratory was frequently visited by Aranea as Prompto really loved her and considered her as his sister. The more frequent they met, the more Aranea felt Prompto should get out of that insane lab. She told the story of Prompto to us and wanted to give him a chance for a real life. Your Majesty agreed. We were looking for a first class sniper at that time as well. And he always had the best scores. Your Majesty designated me and Aranea to help him out, I gave him a map to Insomnia, and a key to his department. And later Ignis and Gladio for further protection of him."

Throughout the listening of this prologue of the story, Noctis' eyes are closed, and his head never lifted up to look at Cor.

"We never thought he could meet you on our trip in Hammerhead." Ignis interpolates.

"But you did know that when we saw him. Am I correct?" Noctis' fragile voice trills. He never wants to question Ignis or hurt him.

"We didn't know at all. Noct, it was after we were back to Cidatel that we received this mission from the King."

A strand of candlelight is suddenly quenched. Facing at the whistling sounds of night winds, Noctis stops Ignis from further clarification.

"What about Gladio?"

"Same."

Noctis gives a gesture to Cor to let him continue.

"Aranea helped him to escape from that lab and the country. Prompto was informed by her to be in Insomnia, to live in another life, and a man called Cor would pick him up there. He made it, I still remember how joyful he was when he saw me."

"It's all past now." a disconsolate sentiment slips though Noctis' lips, "It's very kind of you to tell me all the stories behind though."

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, we never wanted you to get embroiled."

"So you are telling me that Prompto was purportedly the elite soldier from their top secret laboratory that you were looking for years." he says in a pretense of curtness, "And you wanted him to be our side, my side."

"We were all lack of experience on such a thing. Ignis and Gladiolus were against my idea of keeping this as a secret. But Prompto never looked like he would hurt you."

"Enough. Here are my current questions. Why are you telling me this now? What exactly happened to him? Do you have any clue? If he was abducted, that'd be something truly appalling and we have to take actions as well. A boy was abducted under Lucis' sky, possibly by an imperial assassin?" he restrains his infuriation, "And I was there too."

"We thought the thoughts of an abduction could be an exaggerated conjecture, until recently, something happened." Ignis adds.

"Something happened?" Noctis queries.

"Two things actually. A. The Empire suddenly dropped its accusation of not returning their property back. And B. The phone that I gave to Prompto has a tracking system and -"

"Now that's something brilliant finally." Noctis seems to have some energy back to his veins now, "Will we able to find him?"

"That's why we are here. We want your help, as his phone sent several messages to me just this morning. " Cor brings out the phone from his pocket, "And the signal revealed his location. He's back to Insomnia, or maybe not."

Noctis snatches the phone from Cor without asking for permission, "I'm sorry, I'm too curious what they are."

 

Hi Cor, I forgot Noctis' phone number. I really should have kept it in my contact list, stupid me.

I'm vexed by several plagues in my distant relatives recently, I'll be back very soon.

Can you tell Noct that I'm sorry that I fled that night. I guess I just wasn't ready. :emoji: 

Noct, if you see this message, please reply, I miss you.

 

"No way!" Noctis shouts as he successfully decrypted the messages, "They don't sound like Prompto's words!"

"Really? I think they all sound like Prompto's words."

"Alright, alright, I'm over sensitive. " he calms himself down, "But you know what, I don't think Prompto would ever forget my phone number."

"Apparently Prompto didn't save your number in his contact list, he just remembers it."

"Thank you, Cor, for motivating me to go for him one more time." he says ironically.

"My pleasure. So we agreed on the same point. Now, think in this way please, if they knew we would find out this small detail. I mean, it's not difficult for the imperial technicians to detect the tracking chip inside."

"Ah!" Ignis joins, "They knew the phone was tracked, and used these messages to taunt us. If that's the case, who was really sending those messages?"

"I don't care if it's a taunt or not. I'm going to play this game." Noctis clenches his fists, "Let me think how to find out who he really is."

Without returning the phone to Cor, Noctis types the message to the screen: "Noctis here, are you back now?"

The message is quickly returned: "Noct! Yes, I'm already back! It's great to you see you finally answering me."

":emoji: Let's meet at the same time as usual tomorrow."

"Sure for that! May I know the exact time?"

Noctis laughs and shakes his head, he quickly types: "You forget about it already? After school, at the main gate school. See ya!"

"See ya!" the phone pops up the last message.

"That's pretty… bold." Cor stops him.

"I would never say 'see ya!'. Let's see if someone shows up tomorrow then." Noctis throws the phone back to Cor.

"None of us wants to see Prompto be possessed by malignant experiments again. " says Cor sharply, "I'll keep monitoring the future movements to see if we can do more."

"If I failed to get anything from this sender, I'll just go to Niflheim to bring Prompto to me, will you be with me?" says Noctis in a very calm voice, looking at the placid surface of the water in the fountain.

"No. Your Highness, " Cor doesn't know what to explain and Ignis is already comforting Noctis, "it's too early to go there."

"Ok, where is Aranea Highwind now?"

"She's..." Cor is red-faced to answer this question, "she said her signal was being monitored and would contact us once she was safe."

"That's just preposterous! One of million chances that it would happen. " his eyes fiercely look at Ignis, desperate for an accordance, "Ignis, I know you would agree with me, you always do, right?"

But Ignis just stands there like a statue, he's barely able to say a word.

"Fine." Noctis stretches a reticent smile, "I guess that's the difference between a king and a prince… Now excuse me, I must go to my room now, thank you for all the explanation tonight."

Watching at Noctis' receding figure, Ignis can't help but run to him and say, "Maybe it's still early to say mission failed? It's not the end of the world, Noct."

"I may look pale but I actually am not as dejected as you think. Let's wait until tomorrow. That'll be our first step."

"Listen, this is between you and me." Ignis whispers to Noctis' ears, "Cor turned your idea down, but he is actually trying to get one more backup for you, so that you can go to Niflheim and rescue Prompto back. I don't know who that is. At least he knew you would want to be there."

"But my father wouldn't agree with it." Noctis keeps his walking straight.

"All I can say is don't lose your hope."

"Until I see Prompto again I won't."

 

-

 

3 days ago, when Ardyn separated his way from Ravus, he drove to the reclusive resort, Tiresias, stopped his car and went straight to level-E. His fingers slid through the hinge stiles, entering the hidden space where a mechanically broken gentleman stopped him for a second, but after an scan on his face, the gentleman bowed to him and greeted, "Good evening, Chancellor." Ardyn took off his hat and greeted to him as well, as so many times he has done it. A second gate opened, and immediately the vivid colors and dampened music seeped into his sensory organs, like an unleashed animal, unable to hold itself back from showing off its bizarre world inside. The electronic music dazed his head. Seeing through the corridor to the main stage where Ardyn has no interest in bestowing a glance on them he found a tutor there, the man he wanted to talk to. He gave a picture of Prompto to this tutor, and the man nodded at him and assigned him a room number. Ardyn got in. He sat down on a sofa, crossed his legs and pressed the code on the tablet. Minutes later, one of the transparent pillars that faced Ardyn crackled and slid open. A boy got out from the mist and smiled to him radiantly.

"Good evening, sir, it's good to see you again."

Ardyn gave a contented smile, he stood up, folded his hands, circling around the boy and squinting derisively at this doppelgänger of Prompto like he never enjoyed so much before, he's so sure of it despite of the neon lights because he witnessed Prompto's birth in the Argentum Lab with Verstael.

"0205, it's good to see you again as well." 0205, that's the name he always calls the boy, "Let's play a new game tonight. Do you know Prompto Argentum?"

0205 fritted his teeth, eyes looking at Ardyn indignantly when he pronounced the name.

"I know I know, you're the derelict doll there, the failed experiment, just like thousands of the others. You hate Prompto, because that's the reason why you are born and wasted. Paranoia, amnesia and self-destructive, your symptoms took away your value of life. It's very interesting there you shared 99.99% DNA with Prompto, only 0.01% is different, and yet 0.01% made such a big difference. There are millions of unknown factors in this world, and even for the same factor it is seen or felt differently from millions of different eyes and hearts. Verstael and I are two of those millions. The current generation of Magitek is malfunctioning. And through his eyes, he saw that the Empire needed to re-use human soldiers, however that idea is pure garbage to me. And there, you, the surrogate of Prompto is locked here to be a just servant, and yet Prompto is there to be hope of the Empire."

0205 crawled on Ardyn's thighs and squirmed, licking Ardyn's fingers and kissed him. He gazed affectionately at him like he was compulsively remembering Ardyn's face.

"Tell me, if you can pick a place out of Niflheim, where do you like to live?"

"Yes, sir. It's Insomnia."

Ardyn curbed a chuckle, "Honest boy, doesn't everyone love Insomnia?"

"There is no place of Lucis that can compare to any one of Niflheim though."

"Let's skip the insipid platitude. Listen to me, Azur." he pushed the boy away. "Now sit next to me."

"Yes, sir."

"You're going to start a new life in Insomnia. What you only need to do is to call yourself Prompto."

The boy's eyes blinked twice, "For real? Insomnia?"

Ardyn threw a phone onto the table from his coat, "That's Prompto's phone. Made in Lucis. There are only limited spots that can receive messages from Lucis. This place is no doubt not included."

0205 took over the phone and touched it like it was some kind of treasure that he had never seen before.

"Insomnia, where the prince lives, where he has a boy that he likes, a boy just like you, every part of you."

"And that boy is Prompto."

"From now on, that boy is you. Remember it. Have you ever seen Noctis before?"

"Noctis? That's the name of the Prince, right?"

"Smart boy." He searched in his pocket and took out a photo of Noctis, "Prompto is too a smart boy. He never saved any images of Noctis nor his phone number or chat logs." he licked the photo and gave it to 0205, "Remember this face. Seduce him, make him madly love with you, and report everything of him to me. Is that clear?"

"Yes. I'll do anything for the Empire. But I'm afraid, there is a part of my body that can betray my identity. My barcode…"

"An infatuated young prince won't notice such a trifle. Relax. " he played with the boy's soft hair and got up. "Don't disappoint me."

He opened the door and gestured to a man who's in a uniform. He informed him, "I need to recycle him." The man nodded and took Ardyn to an office to sign the papers.

 

"We depart today." said he to the boy when he finished the formalities, "So pack up now and prepare to surprise yourself, my dear. We don't have much time." he said while placing a wad of large bills onto the table, "It should be enough for several months. I'll send you more later. Don't bring any firearms, they will be able to detect them. And I can only deploy you to Insomnia, the rest is all on yourself. Buy yourself some decent cloths and find some hotel for now, until I found the lodging of Prompto I'll send you the location of his."

"Thank you for your advice. I know what to do, sir."

"Anything else do you need?"

"Sir, for the reporting - "

"I'll give you a special communicator. Don't worry about it. And hey, don't keep calling me sir sir sir, try be a bit, what should I say, high-spirited."

"Alright."

"Like Prompto Argentum." Ardyn made a heinous laugh and headed to the stairs.

"Wait."

"Anything?"

"Where is the real Prompto Argentum now?"

Ardyn sniggered. He shook his head and answered him with a careless flick of his wrist, "You're the real Prompto Argentum. Sell your soul to your beloved Empire."

 

-

0205 followed everything Ardyn told him. He found a hotel, bought some cloths for himself and tentatively sent several messages to Cor as he was told the most suspicious man in the contact list. There was no replies until yesterday. Suddenly Noctis appeared in the chat box. He was so thrilled to see the name that he sent the replies before reporting to Ardyn. Ardyn didn't reprimand him at all, he encouraged 0205 to continue.

After a whole day's bustling, when he got on his bed, he realized that he didn't even have time to enjoy the urban scenery. Ardyn's words keep repeating in his mind. "Meet Noctis at his school tomorrow afternoon, be early there." He turned off the lights, waiting for tomorrow morning's sunshine. When he closed his eyes on the bed, he became very curious of this task, of how Noctis would say to him after days of separation. Somehow he believed that Prince Noctis must be a fractious boy that the innocent and naïve Prompto failed to recognize. He felt strangely proud that a Niflheim soldier would attract a Lucis Prince. However, he felt that he could do better.

-

He gets out earlier to the date spot, he walks on the street, stopping by a coffee shop nearby, and he decides to wait there until the right time. There, for the first time he notices the citizens of Insomnia. Girls are young and cheerful talking about boys and the other girls, and boys are in the same youthful exuberance except that they are talking about games and girls. It amazes him that even in war the motion picture here can be so vivid. The more he looks at them, the more he feels himself like an inferior monster. All of sudden a despondent feeling strikes him, his negative mind comes to realize that no matter how much effort he tries to get integrated into this society, he will never be one of them. It's absolutely impermeable. He has no idea how Prompto managed to pull himself through it.

An electric shock goes through him. The qualm of the real Prompto probably never having had such a problem knocks his confidence flat down. He thinks about his own life in the past, what he did, what he learned, and finds it totally preposterous and abominable. He looks at the sky, the effulgent sun is changing, that even the rays of sunshine in this afternoon are moving away from him. A place of dark corner where no lights can reach is the place he truly belongs to. "I don't belong here." The phrase repeats in his mind until it gets stuck, like a short circuit, the only way to exit is to climb to the top of the building and end his life. He's totally driven by this impulse of madness now, without even any hesitation, he scurries to the roof and jumps from it.

 

His feet tremble and his hands twitch. To be cloned it could take weeks , but to die only will take one minute. Noctis, the Prince of Lucis however, is just passing by him. The street already becomes a place of hubbub. It catches Noctis' attention to see what is happening here and when he tilts his head to peek through the narrow gaps of the mass. His face tenses when he sees something coinciding with his imagination. He squeezes himself into this turmoil voluntarily.

 

"Prompto…?" Noctis speculatively asks, trying to clear out the blood on 0205's face.

"Noctis, I finally see you." 0205 says ruefully.

Noctis doesn't know what to answer, this boy looks exactly like Prompto, but something in his eyes and tones just betrayed him. He can sense it, as he feels no love but sympathy for the boy here.

"Noctis, Prince of Lucis. You are not even sad." he twists his head to the other side to avoid direct contacts, a drop of tears shed from his eyes.

"I don't care who you are, you're in Insomnia now." Noctis says while holding 0205's right hand, surreptitiously checking the barcode there, he is so relieved to know his speculation is right, "I have something called Phoenix Down in my bag, hold on, I can save your life. We can talk later."

But by the time Noctis takes out the Phoenix Down to use it on 0205, he's already dead. His pupils dilute, and his livid face and body are cataleptic. Even when Noctis places the Phoenix Down in his hand, his knuckles just don't curl. Noctis covers his shocked face, he has prepared at least ten scripts for today's crucial encounter but still is awed at this sudden incident because he never had thought that the Empire would have sent a clone of Prompto. And the thought of losing hope on finding the location of Prompto leads him to dispiritedness again.

 

"Prince Noctis?" one of the onlookers says, "You know this poor boy?"

Not before Noctis can answer, another one interjects, "I've seen him before, last week I guess? Ah, the fireworks festival! Yes! He was with Noctis. Oh dear, what happened to him?"

Noctis hurls himself upon the man behind, his oversensitive nerve tells him this is the same man that mocked him before, "What happened to him? Tell me what happened to him!"

The man is daunted by Noctis' baleful look, "But isn't he… here?"

 

Suddenly, the phone of Noctis abruptly interrupts them, Noctis checks it, and Cor's name is displaying there. He has to pick up, and finds that Cor is standing across the street. He stares at the scene and tells Noctis to leave the scene right away, "There's something I must tell you now." says he, "leave the rest to the police."

"He's not Prompto."

"I can see now. Don't that man, he's just a citizen."

 

-

 

"You can't save a man's life if he chooses to end it." Noctis sits huddled up on his bed, burying his head in his knees, "It's the first time I feel the meaning of it."

Cor enters Noctis' study room, closes the door behind.

"If he didn't choose to kill himself, I probably would have a chance to question him who sent him."

"If they can send one clone of Prompto to torment you, they can send another one, we must prevent this from happening."

"Can't we take a preemptive strike this time?" he glimpses at Cor, "Say yes."

"We can."

"Let's do it tonight."

"Excuse me, Your Highness?"

"Go to Niflheim."

"Niflheim is an empire, is our enemy, not a contiguous country that you can easily go to."

"Then go home, Cor, have a good rest."

"Will you let me continue?"

"No."

There's a moment of silence. Cor's lips move but words get caught. He leaves the room with a heavy sigh and locks the door for him.

 

Two hours later, the door that he locks is being knocked by Cor.

"Noct, I'm sorry if I woke you up."

"I haven't slept yet. How am I possibly able to sleep? And what's the matter?"

"Please let me in."

"No. Unless you tell me you've got a plan."

"Your Highness. There's something important that I'd like to deliver to you."

"Can't you wait until tomorrow?"

There's no response. A rustle is issued behind the wall, like Cor is dropping to his knees. Noctis gets a twinge in his heart when he hears it, he thinks Cor is kneeling in front of the door and asking for forgiveness. He hurries to the door, just before he opens it, an envelop traverses through the crack under the door.

"Read it, please."

"What is it?"

Noctis quickly sits back on his chair and opens it. Inside there's a scrap paper like it's meant to be not disposed. Reading between the lines, his hand trembles and his eyes involuntarily blur his eye sights.

"It's from Prompto, I can tell from his reading." says he with a little tremor in his voice, "He would never assassin me. And I have accepted him as a Niflheim soldier, if that's the purpose of having me read this letter now."

"So you still want to go to Niflheim?"

"Of course."

"When he was in Insomnia, he sent me one letter twice a day, this one is the only one he didn't send. I guess he chose to hide this secret from me. Yes, he was brainwashed once, to assassin you. When I read it, I had a doubt that Aranea was just a double agent, and the whole escape was just a snare settled by the Empire. I wasn't at the festival because I had these scruples."

"Please, Cor, tell me this is not the end of your story."

"No. Several hours ago, I got a call from our counterintelligence, something dramatically changed. Aranea was fired by the Empire several days ago. Her contract was ended by Ardyn, their Chancellor. There's only a few days left for her staying in Gralea. I think I misunderstood her, she's always loyal to Lucis. However, she's banned from going closer to Zegnautus Keep. "

Noctis jumps from the chair and dashes to the door, once he opens it, Cor hugs Noctis tightly and his eyes are glittering too.

"Tell me more about it!"

"Listen carefully, Aranea just told us she was supposed to be put into inquisition but Ravus Nox Fleuret, the High Commander withdrew the accusation. It gained some time for us. You're right, Your Highness, we have to take actions preemptively this round, any actions must be done before Aranea leaves the country. And this weekend, there will be a mass amount of troops fly over Gralea. We can't miss that chance."

"Perfect time for a stealth operation, right? What's your plan?"

"Shhhh, keep it down, Your Highness." Cor closes the door behind, "I'm thinking of going to Niflheim, with you, and Gladio and Ignis will be our logistic support. This will be the last chance to get Prompto back to us. Aranea's ship is already heading to Aracheole Stronghold, tomorrow morning she'll reach Hammerhead."

"Agreed. " Noctis refrains from his excitement, "The whole thing is just despicable! First, they kidnapped, well, 'retrieved' Prompto back. Now they used a fake Prompto to provoke me. You wanna my opinion, of course I'll play with it. I'll suppress my anger over Prompto's absence, and act like I worry about this dead ringer like I didn't notice at all. I'm gonna turn the table. Let's show the Empire what's the real espionage." He goes to his locker and takes out his medical kits, bringing all the Elixir and Phoenix Down that he has.

"Prompto is locked in one of the rooms of Zegnautus Keep, though we don't have the exact location. Your Highness. Are you determinate for this mission?"

"What do you think? My father didn't agree?"

"I promised him if anything happened, we abort the mission. Your Majesty acquiesces in it. All the responsibilities are on me."

"Then why are you still standing here?! Cor, you should have told me this news when you first arrived in my room!"

"I'm very sorry. Tomorrow morning, you go to school as usual, I'll wait for you when you get off the car and we go to Niflheim instead. And bring the best weapons you have, just in case our covert operation failed."

"No problem for that."


	8. Chapter 8

It is the seventh day that Prompto is locked here. He has been vigilantly waiting for Ravus to come here almost every day. But Ravus never came once in these seven days. He's getting worried about the true intention of Ravus of keeping him here. Seven days of isolation and apprehension in this stifling room is already enough for corroding his spiritual state. Every night he dreams, and his dream worsens every night. He thinks of escaping several times, but there were three watchers disguised as hosts that shift their duties every eight hours. Somehow, in the latter half of the week, Ravus reduced the number of watchers to two, giving Prompto more privacy and space. Still, it's not possible to run away without any help. Even if he kills the remaining one, he will not find a way out in the wintry forest of Niflheim. He can only observe in this suffocating space and react to what's coming to him, which is extremely difficult to him. 

He has thought of the consequences of resetting his memories. The only reason that he can now imagine being put here by Ravus is to force him to fall into the abyss of the negative things so that he'll agree to erase his memories of his bright days to stay sane. Because there is an endless list of "seven days" as long as the outside world is blocked. For a man who has once seen the light, darkness is more daunting after all. If he has never been to Insomnia, if he has never met Noctis before, his life will probably be a lot of easier. But no, he knows himself too well, he can't pretend the things that happened never happened. It's just self-hypnosis and it's foolish. He's not here to seek for consolations. What life can he wish for now? Aranea, his only hope, that he hopes she would come to him again and help him get out.

As for Ravus, he's the most atrocious looking man that Prompto has ever seen, his frigid and sedate face, his white hair, and his overwhelming height, Prompto fears them all and is sure that this man never accepts any jokes or gets drunk, never is interested in any diversions and to work as a Supreme Commander is probably the only entertainment he has. The fear of having to face him eye-to-eye has become the source of his nightmares these days. 

"Prompto, breakfast is ready." The robot host wakes Prompto up from his morning reflection. "It is in the right corner of the - " 

"You don't have to repeat it every day!" Prompto cuts his words and gets out of the room, smashing the door behind him. 

"Yes, Prompto, I will not inform you the location of the breakfast next time." 

"Do you know if Ravus will come today? " he tries to elicit the answer from the host, "I mean, he's supposed to be here today, right?" 

"I don't know. Would you like me to call him?" 

"No, no, no, just, forget about it." 

"Alright, Prompto. I hope the breakfast fit your appetite." 

 

Every day it's been like this, it's like he and the host are the time workers that rewind their time every 24 hours. After 6 days, he's already surpassed the period of adaptation and dissatisfied that it never changes. 

He finishes his breakfast and takes a rest in his restroom. Half an hour later, an extraneous noise of a Magitek engine comes closer, about one minute later, the doorbell rings. The host quickly goes to welcome his master. Through the gap of the door blows a chilly muffled wind that carries the arrival of Ravus, Prompto almost chokes when he feels his existence. He hates the artificial jaunty voice of the host that announces the name of Ravus. A rhythmic step of Ravus accords with his beating heart, leaving him so floundering that he accidentally breaks the empty glass of orange juice. 

 

Ravus comes to him, "Good morning, Prompto. I hope you didn't forget about me, seven days past, and you never called me once. So here I come." 

"Good morning, Mr. Fleuret. I knew you would come today." he glimpses at Ravus, the figure of him are very different from previous ones that make his eyes stare at him longer. His neck is full of abrasions, his hair disheveled, and his garb are tattered. Ravus sits next to him and takes out a medical kit from one of the drawers. As he takes off the half of his garb and garments inside, leaving one shoulder naked, he puts his elbow elegantly on the table and cleans his wounds, the abrasions are spread further down to his arm and blood is trickling down his shoulder. 

"There's been some rebels today." Ravus seems to notice the apprehension from Prompto's eyes. He grits his teeth, wrapping a bandage several circles around his arm until no more blood can be seen. He nods to Prompto. 

"The scissor is in the draw of the closet next to you, will you bring it to me?" 

Prompto's hands are shuddering when he acquiesces to him and hands the scissor over. 

"In fact, just cut the ligature for me please." 

"Eh, Yes." 

"Perfect, thank you. And thank you for not calling me an idiot today. " 

"Not at all." 

Prompto feels strange. In his knowledge, Ravus is powerful enough to kill a group of a hundred rebels at once, alone. There is no way that "some rebels" can wound him to this level. But Prompto doesn't really care, in fact, he thinks it might be a good thing. 

The pause. The silence. The only things that Prompto can hear now are the tick-tock of the clock in the next room and treads of the mechanic host who comes closer and eventually brings two cups of tea on the table between them. Ravus doesn't speak anything, he takes a sip from the cup and that's the only thing he's doing. Then he looks at the cup as if he's waiting for something coming out from it. Prompto hates this awkward moment, he can imagine Ravus to be a horrible husband and his wife has to confess everything until she kills herself. 

"So, I hope you enjoy these seven days, they are the only seven days that you can be so free." Ravus breaks the silence, takes a sip of the tea to moisten his lips again. 

"Already? I didn't count." He says in a pretense of dispassion. 

"Don't try to fool me, kid, do you have your answer?" 

"Of course. It is a simple answer. I had it once I read your note." Prompto says calmly, "I just wasn't in the mood of saying it." 

"I see." Ravus crosses his legs and puts back the cup, "Prompto, do you know how close you are to Argentum Laboratory from here?" he points to the ceiling, "Yep. Right there. You're safe because I stood in front of everyone and said this was only an aberration and I could handle it myself. I'm here to cooperate, not to embarrass myself." 

He articulates each word clearly and pays careful attention to Prompto just to see his reactions. However, Prompto doesn't flinch at all. Ravus scowls like he can't tell if Prompto is acting aloof or he really doesn't want to cooperate. 

"As you are isolated and shut from the outside world, you're insensible to what's changed. And some are related to you. Some big news today, not here, but in Insomnia." Ravus says while putting back his garb on after finishing cleaning the wounds. 

"I don't want to hear it." Prompto says abruptly. 

"Oh I think you should. It may change your decision. I'm thinking, the part of memory effacement can be canceled now. Which made the choice much simpler, me or Verstael. Allow me to elaborate. After you escaped, Verstael created a clone of you, and that clone went to Insomnia, and he died yesterday, in the arm of Noctis." 

Prompto's heart skips a beat, his countenance remarkably changes from unconcern to pure perturbation when he hears the unexpected news. 

Prompto takes a deep breath and lets the heavy air be engulfed in his lungs, "You can't blame me for that." says he with a disgruntled voice. 

"I didn't say it was your fault yet." Ravus looks at the fixed void through the window over Prompto's shoulder. 

"You already did, through your voice, I could tell. How did he die?" 

"They said he went to the top of the building like a madman and jumped from it. Even the Phoenix Down brought by Noctis couldn't save him." 

Prompto wants to keep his reticence for this poor boy. He's not very surprised that the boy went mad, as he has seen similar symptoms so many times. 

"Lucis will return his body to us next week. I want to see him, with you, Prompto." 

"I'm not sure if I want to. And why are you caring about the business of clones?" he stirs up. 

"Because I saw you were a much happier boy in Insomnia. And you might want to laugh, I was somewhat regretting what I've done to you when I heard the news."

"You're the one who took away everything from me." he says through his gritting teeth, "I will never forget it." 

"I'm very sorry, Prompto." surprisingly, he apologizes, "If I can find a way to fix it, I'll do it. I'm still trying. " 

"Yes, the way to fix it is to erase all my memories of Noctis and all my days in Insomnia, that's what you proposed to me, sounds really like a good idea." His eyes are glittering.

"It wasn't one of my ideas. " Ravus hands over his handkerchief to Prompto but Prompto flings it away. "I personally think it's unnecessary. I'm thinking, perhaps, Noctis thought you were already dead. Since he had no idea where you were from." 

"That's what Noct said in the news?" He says incredulously, "Did he call my name?" 

"He didn't say anything, it seemed that everyone in the city was looking for him to explain what happened and he just disappeared." he stretches a bitter smile, "Perhaps, he failed to tell the difference between you and your clone, and he locked himself in the room, so crestfallen that his relationship with you is over. And perhaps he's ready to face a new life without you." 

"Perhaps none of what you said is true. Whatever happens in Insomnia is none of my concerns now. Even if Noctis thought I was already dead, or I was gone, it's all his will not mine. He has his future. But my memories of him will never go away. I'm alive, and I'm here. I hate Argentum Lab, but I would rather go back to the lab than join your team." he curbs his tone of contemptuous provocation and swallows, "I think I've made that clear enough." 

The contour of Ravus freezes for a second, then he starts to laugh like this is something preposterous that he fails to understand. 

"You're the soldier too, you do know it was about orders not about personal feelings that I took you here." 

"I was never really a soldier, Mr. Fleuret. I had been an experiment, and I was a Lucisian citizen. I'm here now as a prisoner." 

"Fine. I see how much you dislike me now." Ravus lowers his head, "Thought you would have chosen me. I didn't ask you who gave you that phone, didn't ask you who provided you money. Despite of all the efforts I've made, you rather choose Verstael. It's not about personal rancor, Prompto, it's about your future." 

A long pause. Prompto is already tired of repeating his words. 

"If that's the answer you gave to me. I accept it and respect it. And I'm not going to ask you why. I just hope that you'll not repent your today's decision. Let me take you to Verstael's area. But before that, I really want you to show me something. Come outside, Prompto." He suggested. 

"Great. I wanted to get out too, I've been pent up in this room for too long." 

Ravus waits until Prompto gets ready upstairs. He takes Prompto out of his cell and leads him to an empty one not far away, Prompto scrutinizes every detail of his path like he's making a map inside his mind. This one is equally large, but unlike his cell, there are only a bed and a table, no signs of anyone having lived here. On the table, a handgun and several skeets are placed. 

Prompto wonders what kind of game Ravus is playing now. Ravus gives the handgun to Prompto. It takes seconds before he accepts it. 

"Well, you know the test. There are no bullets inside. It just contains a microchip that calculates the bullet trace and its precision. Show me how good you are. I want to see it with my own eyes." 

It seems to be a repulsive idea to Prompto at first but somehow Prompto decides to succumb to it. 

"If you really want to see it." 

Then Ravus throws one of the skeets onto the corner between the two walls. The skeet bounces heavily between the walls but Prompto shoots it in each bounce without any blinks. Ravus tosses out another two, all 100% hit by Prompto in every bounce. 

"Very impressive." Ravus claps his hands, "Indeed you are the hotshot. What a shame that I can't have you." 

While Ravus praises him, a flicker of happiness gleams on Prompto's face, the two smile at each other, until both feeling a bit awkward to look at each other they look away. 

"The civilization of the Empire is collapsing." Ravus turns his back on Prompto, "Fewer and fewer children were born in Niflheim because of the daemons and wars. Today half of any facilities for kids in Gralea are deserted. Schools, parks, playgrounds, replaced by hangars, laboratories, and outposts. The only hope relied on Magitek. But the current generation of Magitek is malfunctioning like butterflies to fire. If the situation continues, the Empire will collapse without having any soft landing. That's why Verstael's research orientation was back to human again. You were the hope of the Empire. In my opinion, you are already perfect to go to battlefields. But Verstael wanted to stabilize your allogènes so that he can create more of you. You see, if Noctis is the hope of Lucis, then you will be the hope of Niflheim."

He stops the litany when he finds Prompto isn't listening at all. Understanding the conversation isn't going anywhere, he then brings out his own phone and places it on the table so scrupulously like he's dithering over whether he should do it. When Prompto's attention is back to him, he explains the purpose of it. 

"Now time for the rewards. I know you need it. Make your last call, Prompto." He walks over and stands beside Prompto, "If you want to tell Noctis that you're still alive, this is your last chance." 

Ravus' stolid voice makes it sound like an announcement of a death warrant to Prompto. Until the words "last call" came out, Prompto didn't really realize how many good things he has chosen to bury and what kind of dark future he is heading to. His eyes stare at the white shining digital numbers on the surface, and he knows that the phones that belong to the Commanders are the only ones that can reach Insomnia. He wants to pick it up and dials the number of Noctis, just to hear his voice and tell him not worry about him, that he's still alive. His index finger voluntarily touches the curve of the phone but he flinches back when he realizes what he's doing. He can't do that call because he doesn't want Noctis to hear his tormented voice. 

"I'm not going to log Noctis' phone number on your phone." He's on the verge of cry. 

"I'm not saying that you can call Noctis. Prompto, " he says softly and puts the phone in Prompto's palm, "this is not a request from me but from Aranea. I want you to call her." 

"Aranea?" He stares at Ravus with eyes open wide. 

"It amuses me, really. " he says with an indulgent smile, "I promised Aranea to give you this opportunity, yet you don't trust me to be on your side. I think I'll just tell her I can’t protect you for her." 

"I don't need any protection from you." he huffs, "Where is Aranea? Why didn't she ask you to do it?" 

"She's fired. You're not going to see her again." 

"You fired her?" 

"Believe me I would be the last person to do it. I'm going to dial her number, you can ask her if you want to confirm it yourself." 

The last nerve of Prompto is disconnected, his mind goes blank and he's having difficulty to breathe. 

"How can you be so cruel?" he grips his fist, "Have you ever loved anyone?" 

"Love?" Ravus raises his left eyebrow and chuckles, "Do you love Noctis?" 

Prompto's hands cover his heart as he leans against the wall, it aches, and he can't even say a word right now. Every word he hears is a torture to his body and mind. 

"I guess I already have the answer." Ravus says. 

"Just give me the phone." 

Ravus dials the number and gives it to Prompto. After several seconds, the phone is picked up by Aranea. 

"Ravus? Is Prompto with you now?" Aranea speaks on the other side. 

"This is Prompto." he swallows as a drop of hot tears falls on the floor, "Aranea." 

"Prompto! Oh dear, finally. Are you alright? Where are you now?" 

"I'm on my way to Argentum Lab now." he represses his voice from sounding too bad, "And I'm OK. Where are you? Ravus said you were fired, is that true?" 

He can hear the heavy sigh through the speaker. 

"Yes. Ardyn did a deep investigation on that." 

"I hate him. I hate him and Ravus both." 

"Ravus might look terrifying but he's not as bad as you think of him. Without him I'd be brought to trial. " she takes a deep breath, "Prompto, all I can say is, don't lose your faith on Noctis, alright? He's the prince of Lucis after all, the chosen king. If you give up, no one can help you."

"I don't know what can I do now…" his voice gets weaker, he never asked such a question to Aranea before but now he's so lost that he just wants a crutch that he can hold on to. 

"Prompto, in your life you've never done anything wrong. Just trust your feeling for him, alright? And remember you are not alone." 

"I really wish you could be on my side, Aranea." 

"I wish the same." 

"But thank you for those words. And, is this phone monitored?" 

"Sure." 

"Then never mind. I'll hang up now." 

"Take care." 

He hangs up the phone, something has changed in his heart. He bites his lips, staring at the dim light scattered from the ceiling like there is something there. Ravus comes to him and takes away the phone from behind. He puts the phone back to his pocket and says to Prompto coldly, "Let's go then." 

The two soon arrive at a small waiting room for the elevator. Ravus touches the "up" button, the light of it turns on. Several seconds later, the gate of the elevator opens. But inside Verstael and his two scientists welcome them like they are here forever. 

"Ravus and my dear Prompto. I've been looking for you. It's great to see you are here. I'm sure Prompto chose me over you. I just couldn't wait until you came to our laboratory. " 

"I have officially given my papers to the Emperor of my opinions of remission of Prompto's crime, and we all assent to the idea that no change will be made until the official response." Ravus says so, handing Prompto over. 

"Mr. Fleuret, maybe I forgot to tell you that I gave my papers to the Emperor as well, not just asking for a remission, but an exoneration, and now, as you may see," he turns around and smiles to two scientists behind, "the Emperor prefers my proposal to yours. " 

"What a happy family union, congratulations to you all." Ravus says ironically, "Well, now excuse me, I'll just get myself some potions and treatments first." 

"What do you think of me, Commander Fleuret? An old man whose only mastery is doing researches? You're too young and too naïve to scorn me yet. Biochemistry is not the only thing I'm good at, as you can see now! Prompto, come this way. The sooner we get your work back on track the better." 

"Goodbye, Prompto, maybe we'll meet again." Ravus gives him a nod and leaves.

"Mr. Fleuret." Prompto stops Ravus. 

"Yes?" 

"Are you going to the medical center? It's very far from here." 

"Yes, what's wrong?" 

"Nothing. Nothing at all." 

\- 

"Get changed, and the staff will lead you to the room. " Verstael separates his way from the three.

So his life is back to the old days again. Same decorations, same room numbers, and same old faces. When they pass through each of the rooms while the other scientists standing in front of their doors and bowing to them, Prompto feels no appreciation at all through their overjoyed faces. It's the place he's spent 99% of his life after all. His heart is already dead and he trudges like a dying man. He's not even surprised to see the neighboring room having one man missing in rows of vats covered by translucent curtains. He contrives to be courteous when he says goodbye to the two scientists. He turns right and heads to his own room. 

"Wrong way, Prompto." One scientist behind him says. 

"Sorry, but I thought I was supposed to go back to my room?" 

"Not now. This way, please follow us." the other scientist gestures, "Verstael is waiting for us already." 

That's a nice surprise. Prompto scowls, now that he remembers, that path behind him never existed in his memory. It was a one-way road to his room and now a door and newly developed rooms are on the other side suddenly. It's useless to go against their ideas. So Prompto follows behind them. They pass one of the corners and arrive at a sealed chamber that requires a staff card to be inserted to get in. One of the scientists scans his card and the door opens by itself. It chills Prompto when a whiff of antiseptic steam spurts from the root of the room. In the center of this high-security room, it lays an electric arm-chair that he never saw before, on it Verstael is standing up and smirking at them. Prompto has an uneasiness when he sees the blue lights beaming out of the screen ported to the chair reflect on Verstael's face. 

"What is that for?" Prompto asks. 

"First of all, I'm glad you chose to be back here, my son. And this is just our brand new machine to check your body conditions. Nothing here will hurt you, I promise. All you need to do is just to relax." 

As soon as the gate closes, Verstael gives his command to the scientists: 

"Let's begin our process, no time to waste." 

One scientist comes to Prompto and urges him to strip off his coat. The other one pushes a medical cart with a drawer to one side of the arm-chair. On the cart, a pack of syringes and several variegated color bottles and tubes are placed. A horrible idea flashes into Prompto's mind when a word "mind" on the edge of the screen catches his sight, that this machine isn't for body check but memory effacement. 

"You lied to Ravus!" he hollers at Verstael, glaring at him through his smoldering eyes in wrath. 

Verstael stirs up in stupefaction. His eyes blink for a second until he comprehends what Prompto was looking at. 

"What a great intuition you have! But is it wrong for a liar like me to lie? You'll just be my obedient boy tomorrow when you open your eyes." Verstael sniggers. 

His body shivers and he feels disgusted to be in this room of frauds that smother his last hope of protecting his most treasured thing. He hurls to Verstael but one of the scientists locks him from the back and the other one jumps to him and successfully gives him one shot in a second. Prompto twists his body free and ducks another attack from that man, giving Verstael who ran to him a front kick. Watching Verstael heavily plump on the ground, he spins his body and gives the man behind a kick in the air. 

"All these training are turned out to be useful finally." he kneels next to Verstael, "No, Verstael, I followed here just because I'm curious what you will do to me." He uproots the needle and stabs back to the neck of the one who shot him, grabbing whatever is on the table and smashing the old man's head. 

He bends down to each of the three who are all writhing in agony and takes their cards in a blasé manner, leaving the three behind without glancing at their faces and standing in front of the armchair. The cursor of the screen stops at a text line that writes: "memory extraction ready". He finds it amusing like he never did before and opens the door. 

"The drug is taking effect, and the reinforcements are coming, you'll not get away from here." Verstael grumbles. 

"The only reason I chose to you over Ravus, is because I think you are easier to deal with. I thought I knew you too well, but never thought you would have made such a lie to Ravus. It doesn't matter now." 

He knew the drug was going to take effect soon, so he took away several needles for later stinging himself to stay awake. He has no worries to get his weapons as he's been doing this for so many times. He goes to the armory by using one of the cards that he looted and carries as many weapons as he can take. 

A siren wails in the air, the candid dizzy lights on the high ceiling are replaced by the red lights. All the other scientists are screaming in helpless terror and escaping the lab through staff-only doors. The whole laboratory is in an emergency now. He quickly goes back to the previous room and kills the three. "Say goodbye to tomorrow." that's the last sentence he said to Verstael. Prompto is locked in this lab alone, half of his cloth is reeking with blood. Making sure there's no other way to escape, he drops his knees to a good spot to hide and aims at the main gate of the lab where Magiteks and other scientists in different suits will gather in. The reinforcement comes to the room like they are only to be shot by Prompto one by one in cold blood. Pulling triggers has never been so satisfying, he just wants to kill them all until the last bullet of his arms depletes. 

"You can do this." He encourages himself. 

But the number of Magiteks seems to be infinite, and soon his finger isn't able to pull the trigger anymore and his visions are getting blurry under the hypnotic red lights. Three armed men come to his way and he's only able to shoot one down. The two look at him viciously, each wails something in pitch and wields his large sword in the air, Prompto manages to kill the right one in the last second using all the left strength he has. His exhaustion finally has the advantage over his adrenaline, leaving his fingers impossible to move and kill the left one. He closes his eyes and waits for this final blow, surprisingly, he feels nothing as the man is falling down on the ground and being dead. Someone helped him, he can feel him coming closer to him but he has no idea who that is. This someone carries his body on his shoulder and heads to the deeper interior of the laboratory that's the opposite to the exit. Somehow his listening is still not shutting down, he can feel the remote steps of that man like it's strangely far away and it's too different from Noctis' steps. That someone turns the corner and keeps walking until they reach the place where Verstael died. He places Prompto on that armchair, turns the screen on and clicks start. 

"Memory reading start." an artificial female voice speaks, "Please select a period of time... Last two months until now, please confirm." 

"Confirmed." the voice of Ardyn drawls. 

"No…" Prompto protests in a feeble voice. 

"Be quiet, Prompto." Ardyn says while leaving the room, half of his garment is reeking with blood too.


	9. Chapter 9

It didn't take too many efforts for Cor and Noctis to bypass the border of the two countries. Cor maneuvered carefully until they reached the frontier. Then they disguised themselves as Magitek soldiers and shifted in between multiple Imperial ships that they stealth attacked. Espionage is the specialty of Lucis. They always count on it to remedy their defect of combats. They flew through the air of Niflheim for two days and landed in a rural area of Gralea. To stay as low as possible, they didn't spend more than one day in Gralea. After that, Cor met an informant that previously belonged to Aranea's team together with Noctis, there they exchanged the latest information and the man gave them the map of Zegnautus Keep. Noctis quickly remembered everything on the map in the heart.

Aranea wasn't there. Ever since her team was to be disbanded she was heavily watched. Cor knew that it wouldn't be a big problem to bypass the monitoring for her, but he decided not to let her take the risk.

"Stay sharp, the security system inside Zegnautus Keep in much higher than Gralea." the informant said.

They both nodded. Noctis had never been to Zegnautus Keep before. Looking at the distant mountains encasing the Empire's most advanced industrial building below, he couldn't imagine what kind of technology it was shielding inside. All he could do was to follow Cor.

"Prince, is there any place for you to stay?" The informant asked, looking at Noctis in solicitude.

"In fact, no. " Cor interjected in his low hoarse voice, "We'll mount a tent tonight."

"Hey, why don't you stay with our comrades here, we have an empty caravan, much warmer than your tent I'm sure."

As much as Noctis wanted to say Yes, he didn't say anything as he understood Cor's duty and trusted his perception. Cor declined the idea in carefully chosen words, saying that they preferred to be clandestine.

"It's not far away. But of course, it's your choice."

"We'll have a look. Do you have any information received from Aranea?"

"As far as I know, she's being watched now. So she can't send any messages, at least not directly. All I know is that she'll be outside of Zegnautus Keep today, for her last mission. Hope you won't miss her. Oh, I almost forgot. Take this." the man gave Cor a communicator, "Switch the channel until you hear something. It's the communicator used by the Magitek soldiers inside Zegnautus Keep. Might be helpful to know what's going on inside." 

They thanked the informant and went to the empty caravan. It was a small one, but it had all the essential facilities for a short repose. There were several armors and souvenirs that belong to Aranea's comrades on two cots. Water was cold and there was no electricity. Apart from those, the place was quite clean. As it was probably the safest place that it seemed, Cor placed his katana on a table.

"We rest here for a night. I know you fatigues easily."

It wasn't really a bad idea, as much as Noctis wanted to move on, but he was getting very drowsy to hear the engine sounds passing above them all day long.

"As far as I know, Prompto is incarcerated in one of the cells under Commander Fleuret's surveillance. I know that man, he's not the type who likes to torture. You haven't slept an hour since you arrived in Gralea. Let's wait until evening before we move on. "

"Have you tried that communicator yet?"

"Not yet. I'll do it when you close your eyes."

"Fine, if you insist, I'll take a nap. Just don't forget to wake me up when night falls." he let himself be persuaded.

"Sure."

It somehow reminded Noctis that Cor was Gladio's mentor when he saw the way of Cor doing the chores. 

"Do you know Ravus Fleuret very well?" Noctis asked while cleaning his face.

"Not much, but it seems that he and Aranea were good friends. Why so suddenly?"

"You know I met him in Tenebrae once or twice before he became the High Commander. Does he know that we're here?"

"I hope he doesn't. He's the major part of my concerns now. If he's inside Zegnautus Keep, we'll probably have to face a tough fight. We must stay low as much as possible to avoid him. He's not an average adversary that you can handle."

"I know. But together we can do this, right?"

"Of course. Go to sleep, Your Highness. Leave the rest to me." 

When the last light from the sun falls, Noctis wakes up in the empty caravan and finds Cor outside waiting for him with his katana belted on his side. He is writing something down when he senses Noctis behind. He stops.

"I got encrypted messages from Aranea." He seizes his communicator which is making nothing but white noise, "Good news."

"OK, let's go." Noctis intentionally goes ahead of Cor.

"Wait, Your Highness, don't you want to hear what the news is?"

"It's good news, right? Which means we can go."

"Aranea told Ravus to call her if Prompto is transferred to Argentum Lab. And my phone just rang three times. It's a message to tell us the plan didn't change. Now we know the exact location of Prompto thanks to her. Listen, " Cor caught up with Noctis, "across to the forest there's a sentry post, we take it down and wait for the right moment to break in." 

They run across the forest at light speed, it amazes Cor that Noctis is able to nimbly move between the trees so fast that his eyes are having difficulties to catch up. Noctis quickly takes down all the Magitek soldiers on that sentry post without being noticed. Cor sits down on a chair in front of a small monitor, tweaking its channels to see if any gate is less guarded. 

"There." Cor points to one of the screens, "There are only two guards."

"You sure the gate is not locked?"

"No. But from my past experience, every hour the siren will hoot to inform the changing of guards." he regards his watch and continues, "The night shifts will come very soon, on that moment the gate will be opened and two guards will come out to shift their duties. Two for you and two for me, then we break in. Remember if they hear any noises, the whole place will be alarmed. Also, be careful of the searchlights."

"Deal." 

Noctis bends down, clenching his fists and waiting for the best moment to come. Minutes later, the siren of Zegnautus Keep screeches, alarming everyone the right time. The searchlights pass through them but both successfully avoid being scanned.

"Now!" 

Noctis jumps from the post, warp-strikes one of the guards and takes down the other before anyone notices. When he stands up, the other two are already on the ground and Cor is keeping the gate open for him. No time for celebration, he immediately gets inside. 

He senses a sudden impression of claustrophobia as soon as the gate closes, all he can see is a plague of darkness. Only a hue of effulgent red lights is coming out from a light source supposed to be the central system. And the siren doesn't seem to be stopping at all. He can hear the mechanical footsteps of the soldiers all heading in the same direction. He draws a line on the map in his mind according to the orientation of the footsteps and stops thinking when the line ends at the Argentum Lab. Cor's finger clasps Noctis' wrist and pushes him behind. He must have noticed that as well. A horrible feeling engulfs him: Something has happened to Prompto. 

"Calm down, Noct. We've come this far, don't fail in the final step!" 

But Noctis doesn't want to listen. He struggles free from Cor when Cor was focusing on the communicator and scurries to the lab. 

"Noctis! Come back!" Cor hollers, but his volume is incomparable to the one of the siren. 

The mechanical ground suddenly cracks open and splits the two, the area under Cor's feet quickly circles around and moves away, the chasm becomes too big for Cor to catch up and jump in. Noctis stops his running finally and turns back to Cor. But it's already too late. Cor can only see his prince's anxious face in distance devoured by white artificial lights, he yowls at Noctis to wait for him before the laboratory room even though he's not sure if Noctis heard his words. A big stunt hits the ground and the movement stops, he turns around and sees a huge gate behind him. That becomes his only path, he pushes the gate open and enters inside. It is a hangar, but there's no one. He slowly walks into it, sweeping around the surroundings vigilantly. A huge pink box with digital alphabets flashing the surfaces catches his attention. He has never seen such a strange mechanism. It somehow arises his curiosity. He stops at several meters away from the box and hears something like a girl's crying emanating inside the box. Suddenly, a fierce wind blows behind him, he turns around, swings his sword and blocks the thing ahead in an absolute instinctive reaction. A colliding of two swords sparks onto his face. A few steps back he finally sees who hit him, there the only High Commander of the Empire, the man in silver hair waves his sword and draws a beautiful arc in the air, without even saying a word, he dashes to Cor again. This time Cor is able to dodge the hit, the ground that Ravus cleaved through by his sword is separated by narrow crevices. Cor seizes the hilt of his katana, waiting for the best moment to kill him.

Ravus has no signs of any mercy. He looks like he's treating this as his final battle. Cor's body heats up, deep in his heart he always wanted such a battle to know how powerful Ravus could be, and he never expected this man to be so thrilling and compelling. He keeps every cell of his body heedful of any fluctuation in the air. When another blow comes to him, he swerves and leaps high, plummets towards Ravus' back of the head and strikes on it. He thinks he made it, but on the edge of his sword, there're only some strands of Ravus' hair. Seeing Ravus reappears several meters away, Cor catches his breath and speaks.

"What a pleasure to meet you, Ravus Nox Fleuret." he puts his katana back into its sheath and hunches forward, eyes never taking off Ravus.

"Battousai huh? Commander of the Crownsguard, you shall pay for the death of my men."

"Come and get it."

No time for another break, both of them take one step forward and the battle begins again, the two both know that it'll never end without any interruption, including death on either side. When Cor takes the lunge and collides his katana with Ravus' sword, the two glare at each other and grins like two maniacs.

The sparks flying off in the air are almost freezing comparing to their speeds, the pillars are crackling one by one and the hangar is collapsing. Until the two both get tired they stop for another break. Cor stabs his katana in the rift, looking at Ravus who's doing the same thing. If Noctis is here, I will already win this battle. Just when he thinks so, sounds of footsteps belonging to a third person come closer. The familiar rhythm of steps and the sound of high heels tell him that it is Aranea who's behind him.

"Aranea?" Cor attempts the call.

"Yeah. I see you're running a bit into trouble."

"I'm glad you have come."

Ravus however, looking so surprised and betrayed to see the two together. Cor swings his sword and steps back to get closer to Aranea, eyes fixing on Ravus and staying in vigilance. However, in this tension Ravus' lips curve, he gives Cor a wicked smile. Somehow it makes Cor smile too. The two figures disappear at the same time and their swords thrust into the flesh of the third person: Aranea. Not just that, the two kick her to pull out their swords almost simultaneously to finish her off. Her face is in agony and her mouth utters a groan. The pain is too acute for her to support herself, she falls forward and is bleeding everywhere. Behind Cor, Ravus uses his handkerchief to wipe his blood and shakes his head. While Ravus turns to her, she morphs back to its true form: Ardyn Izunia.

"What a dogged stalker you are, Chancellor."

Ravus draws near. Seeing his head lifts up, Ravus casts a violet glowing orb to his body that electrified him, making him unable to move.

Ardyn's mouth spurts blood, spelling words vaguely.

"Think twice, and you'll know the answer." Ravus says in a soft voice while trailing Ardyn's body in front of the pink boxes.

"I'll kill you, Ravus, one day..." he curses fiercely as his lips are able to move.

Ravus seizes the skin of Ardyn's neck, so hard that it breaks his neck, he whispers to the ear of Ardyn and says, "Just like what you told me last night, 'I'll wait for that day to come'."

He unlocks the pink box and throws Ardyn in, slamming the door without giving any chances of Ardyn to escape. Everything happened just in seconds. Behind, Cor takes one look at what's inside before Ravus locks the door and changes its password. It gives Cor goosebumps when he sees some human hair and several skulls. 

"Sorry, but do you mind telling me what was that?" Cor kindly asks.

"It has a funny name, 'the lonely one'. It was one of the failed experiments from a lab when Verstael was playing with magic. The girl, or to be more preciously, the psychomancer, has some incredible magic power but something went wrong and she always felt extremely lonely. She won't let go anyone who comes close to her until that one dies. It took a great effort to lock her in that box. I think that'll keep Ardyn having fun for a while. He has some amazing healing speed, locking him with her might be the best option."

"Very impressive. You know, Mr. Fleuret, when you said you wanted me to die, I thought you really meant it." Cor says while the two get outside the hangar.

"I had a horrible fight with Ardyn over a lot of things last night. I know he would stalk me here. And I promised Aranea if something happened to Prompto I would turn against whoever that was. Unlike you, I was risking my life to play this role. " he grits his teeth, "Since you were here to rescue Prompto, I decided to use you to defeat him. There was no way she could break the law and be here. But how did you know that wasn't Aranea? Don't tell me it was because I smiled at you."

"Aranea told me that you were not a bad man as we imagined and she would never turn against you. Though that was a long time ago, I kept it in mind. I guessed that didn't change, so I put my debt on you. Besides, she wouldn't be here without telling me."

"Thank you for trusting her. And I hope your King still kept his promise."

"Of course. The chair of the liege lord of Tenebrae is always waiting for you."

"Then we have our mutual interests. I'd like to see Lucis grow too. But first thing is first."

"Let's not waste our time. Noctis is probably in the Argentum Lab already."

"Noctis? What is he here for? Don't tell me -"

"For Prompto."

Ravus laughs harshly, "Really? Hmm, maybe Ardyn was here for Noctis, not me. He loved to save the best meal for the last, killing you first could be his choice."

Cor didn't reply the last line, he only scoffed. Both head to the next position as it's much more important to them now. 

\- 

Noctis is alone in this dark unknown place now. He no longer runs in a hurry as he has to take lessons from the mistake he did and be more prudent. He seeks the right route alone in careful steps, trying his best to not make any sounds. There are only a few sources of lights that can barely illuminate the path ahead of him. With the help of some of them, he sees scattered groups of Magitek soldiers shambling here and there. He successfully avoids the conflicts with some by taking alternative paths yet has to kill some others. Their indistinguishable words and shrieks are more disturbing than the ones outside that he really doesn't want to do it again. As the structure has changed, it is not an easy task for Noctis to find the Argentum Laboratory. He has stumbled upon several unexpected dead ends. He just hopes that he's not followed by any unknown creatures that he might not compete with. 

He almost bypassed all the contraption he met except one, that his feet were on a hidden button that shot two mechanic arrows to him, and he failed to avoid them. Thankfully he carried enough elixirs with him so that was only a brief incident. 

Finally, he gets to the lab before Cor arrives, he waits against the wall, floundering helplessly about what to do next. He understands how risky to get inside the lab alone. But still, after 10 minutes' measurement, he sneaks in without further waiting for Cor's arrival. He locks the gate behind him, just in case someone followed him. Dazed by the red lights, he checks every room in palpitation but there is nothing except dead bodies. After finishing checking several rooms, he starts to call out Prompto's names but he hears no responds. It makes him wonder if what happened here is related to the non-stop siren. Who killed all those armed creatures? Prompto? His arm trembles, it's too hard for his heart to push each door as he fears Prompto being inside and dead too. He walks into a huge room where there are rows of vats filled with green liquids. As soon as he enters, an unusual odor dissipated in the air makes him sick. Inside each of it, there's a lethargic boy suspending in greenish water with a respirator on and all kinds of tubes connecting to its naked body. There's only one empty vat, he touches the number on the pad below it. The number is as clear as the one on Prompto's wrist: NH-01987, 0006-0205. It makes him nauseous to think that every day there are scientists coming and going, injecting those tubes into Prompto's skin or his clone's. 

Still no signs of Prompto, he just gets out of the room. 

Suddenly, he hears an artificial female voice exclaiming something like '30% finished'. He has no idea what it means. He follows the voice and gets into a room whose door is jammed open by a dead scientist's body. Across the corpse, it's the arm-chair inside with Prompto is sitting. The female voice keeps repeating the percentage. He prudently comes closer to the arm-chair, as if he fears this is just another failed clone. But when he checks the barcode on that boy's wrist, his eyes glitter, because it's indeed Prompto, his Prompto. Prompto's eyes are closed and eyelids are slowly moving, like he's dreaming or something. Noctis carefully pulls out all the needles in Prompto's arms and the tapes that buckle on him. His actions are interrupted as Prompto seems to regain some of his consciousness. He murmurs words in heartbreaking weakness, "not now please".

"It's me, Prompto! I'm here to get you out." he clenches Prompto's shoulders.

But there's no response. Noctis touches his face in flustering despair, calling his name over and over like a madman.

"…Noct?" Baffled at first, Prompto finally elevates his brows. "Oh no, I must be dreaming. No, I must stay awake."

"It's real!" He touches Prompto's blonde hair, "It's real. I'm getting you out of here."

As soon as the conversation begins, the female voice stops reporting her progress.

"Noct, is that really you? I can't -" his soft voice is stuck by surprise and joy, he tries to support himself from the chair but loses his balance like a withered flower falling apart.

"Come, Prompto, " he lifts Prompto's body, "open your eyes and look at me, that's all I ask for."

"I can't. I was sedated." He mutters, "I guess I fell asleep just now. Part of my memories is gone. They wanted to put me in sedation so that they can remove these memories from me. Noct, you know I..."

The rest of the words can't be recognized, he's like an autistic child, keeping murmuring scattered words in a fading voice that nobody else understands.

"Did they hurt you? Any wounds? Do you feel cold? Or hot?"

"Noct, as long as I can hear you, I'm happy." he whimpers.

Noctis is somehow relieved to know that Prompto is not in danger of dying and is just in sedation. He tries to move him, but every time he hunches forward Prompto's flaccid body slumps against his back like a pliant puppet. Once he realizes that Prompto is not possible to move by his own will because of all the injections he has taken, he carefully lifts Prompto's body and carries him.

After the two get out of the room, Noctis walks straight to the exit. A few steps further, he has a strange feeling rose in his back. He catches a fleeting glimpse at the dark corridor behind and there's nothing except some peculiar creaking sounds like someone back there is grinding its teeth. He looks back again and this time an elder scientist who's half-man and half-daemon is desperately toddling to them, crying something like the word "mine" in an irrational frenzy.

"That voice... It's Verstael." Prompto wheezes and swallows, "Thought I killed him."

"Verstael? The top scientist of the Empire? He's..."

"The one created me, Noct."

"Okay, " he gasps, "Let me see if I can finish him off."

He places Prompto on a chair and crouches beside him, staying sharp while seeking the existence of Verstael who is now vanished. There are no voices, no sounds in this darkness except Prompto's magnified wheezing. He has no idea where is Verstael now. He simply lost him. Until several minutes after the malicious voice of Verstael echoes in the vacant air again.

"He was born to be a killer, to kill you. It's been incubated in his mind for years. He's just never told you."

Hearing such an accusation, Prompto immediately cries.

"You know who I am now." Prompto rolls his head and stutters, "Sorry that I didn't tell you."

"And I'm still here. I wouldn't be here if I care about your past." he turns to Prompto and touches his cheek, "We get out of here, together, back to Lucis."

He wants to continue, but an unpleasant sight sweeping over them from behind chills him to the bone. He holds his Ultima Blade, waiting for Verstael to come with bated breath. As the creaking sound resonates and comes closer, he spots the only red eye from Verstael and darts behind him, stabbing his sword to his heart multiple times. Every time he pulls it out, blood spurts from the gash and spills all over the floor. Verstael's body jumps to the ground, his red eye fades along with his curse. Noctis doesn't care to move the dead body. It has never occurred to him that he would kill Niflheim's best scientist. He takes a mild relief and carries Prompto to the path of exit.

When he manages to get to the gate of the lab, he steps forward a bit and retreats. Through the window of the gate, he sees at least a dozen of Magitek soldiers patrolling there. He can't take the risk to hunt them down while leaving Prompto alone for a second time. Making sure Prompto is still alright, he squeezes into a corner that can barely fit the two, waiting for the soldiers' recession. However, a moment after he hears a faint clicking sound, like someone is trying to use the key to get in. Soon the key in the keyhole makes a disturbing rattling sound that Noctis knows they are definitely coming after them, he quickly gives up the idea of hiding in the corner and turns to a further inner room with Prompto in hoping the soldiers turn away soon. His arm holds around Prompto's waist to keep his balance, but when his fingers touch the fabrics of Prompto's disheveled clothing, it makes him shudder that Prompto is sweating all over the body as he's too debilitated for further movements. More footsteps of the soldiers come, and Prompto starts murmuring again.

"How shameful I am, " his voice wavers in emotion, "being next to you but can't help you at all."

Noct finds it almost painful to hear them, yet he can't answer him. And he knows if Prompto can't be quiet they'll be both in trouble. He tilts his head and glances at the corridor outside. One of the Magitek soldiers seems to notice the noise, its heavy tramp of footsteps is running towards them. Noctis turns to Prompto. He softly kisses Prompto's forehead and presses his finger to Prompto's drenched lips as the metallic sound of soldiers' footsteps is too close. His other hand holds Prompto so tight that it's trembling, he can't make Prompto fall now. However, Prompto has become incredibly obedient this time, he doesn't flinch at all. Irresistibly, he gives Prompto a gentle kiss. Noctis is somehow relieved to kiss him even though he knows there's a possibility that Prompto might dislike it. Nevertheless, Prompto no longer talks. His throat is suffocating as the soldier stands only one inch away from them and scrutinizes the surroundings, head crooked like it's not sure the things it's missing.

Then suddenly there comes an outcry that stings his ears. Noctis wonders what happened to him. He can now hear the sounds of swords thrusting to one and another. Moments after, he hears Ravus' voice calling for Prompto. After a few seconds of silence, two shadows pass by them. As he can't imagine what can be worse, Cor's voice follows and calls for his prince. He has no idea why the two are together. He gets out of the corner with Prompto and stands in front of the two, flinging off his tears in bewilderment. He looks at Ravus who has an awful apprehension appears on his face.

"Oh dear, " Cor gasps at their disheveled states, "What happened to you?"

"You arrived at right time. We're fine. Prompto is a bit, sleepy. Cor, tell me what's going on now."

"Any idea where is Verstael?" Ravus ignores Noctis' belligerence and approaches him.

"Step back. " Noctis shoves Ravus away in defiance, "I... murdered him."

"He's here to help us, Your Highness, I'll explain later. Let's get out of here first. " Cor urges. "Frankly speaking, being in this mess of dead bodies makes me repugnant."

Ravus looks at Noctis sternly for several seconds, then turns away to gaze at the extremity of the void outside, "Follow me. I know the hidden path to the exit. And I'm sure it's much better than here." 

\- 

"1 hour before the sunrise, Miss Highwind."

Aranea is getting a little antsy because there's still no sign of Cor or Noctis coming. She and her crew are supposed to take them on the ship and head to Lestallum as she already made an excuse to set her last mission there. She's worried that something wrong happened to them, and if the sun rises, there'll be patrolling soldiers coming and they will get suspicious of her. And if Cor and Noctis come at that worst moment, they'll be caught. Through the falling snow, she waits for their arrival anxiously.

"Let's wait another hour then."

"Another hour? The first Imperial army patrol is arriving very soon, Miss Highwind."

"If they come to us, we kill every one of them." Her eyes never leave the horizon of the road to Zegnautus Keep.

"I don't think we stay a chance."

"Oh why is that?" Aranea turns to him.

"I just received the news that the first army patrol is led by Commander Ravus, Miss Highwind."

Aranea's mind goes blank when the man announces the name, as she never heard of it and the place she's standing on is not in his charge.

"Where is he now? Do you see him? Give me the binoculars!"

"You don't need that."

It's Ravus' voice.

He appears from nowhere and Aranea's stiff neck somehow isn't able to turn around until Ravus spins her. Her heart is stuck in her throat when his hands are on her shoulders.

"Aranea, " his voice softens, "the army patrolling is just false information I disseminated."

Until she sees the three behind Ravus slowly walk to her, she gives Ravus a gratified smile.

"Oh dear…" she hugs Ravus and her heart is back to where it belongs, "I thought you weren't able to make it."

"You should have told me Noctis was there too." he clears his throat, "I might have taken a retinue with me."

"Cameras are everywhere, Ravus. Everything I sent to Cor was through encrypted messages. I can't leak such information to you through censored lines. It was just too important. Noctis, very glad to meet you."

"Very glad to meet you too. " Noctis sounds a bit embarrassed.

"Shall we get on the ship before any real patrol comes?"

"Fine, would you give the Prince of Lucis a hand, he doesn't let me touch Prompto at all."

"Oh dear, is he alright?" her pupils fix on Prompto's pale face with an expression of consternation.

"Let me hold him." Cor helps Noctis carry Prompto onto the ship, "He seems to have taken some narcotics that put him to sleep. There are no other visible wounds." 

The rest of Aranea's team jumps to the cockpit and closes the cabin doors. The ship takes off and ascends steeply into the sky. Everyone takes a relieved breath, Cor glimpses at Noctis' tranquil eyes that looking at the scene below and divests his trench coat to cover it on Prompto. Its ridiculous size makes Noctis giggle.

"Would you mind bring me some bottles of water? I'm afraid he's very thirsty now."

"We take a break at Lestallum first, Your Highness. " says Cor while handing over two bottles of water, "I think it's time to take a break."

Noctis glances at Ravus. He then asks the question rambling in his mind since he met him, "Seriously, You're with us now?"

"Apparently, I can't go back. When you arrive at Lestallum, I'll take a separated path. Would like to have a conversation with your father. " he straightens his back, "The things recently taught me that I might need to reconsider my position in the Empire, being in thrall to Ardyn like his puppet isn't going to appease my daily increased anxiety." A spirit of sorrow runs in his tone, "And I'm tired of being surrounded by lies and frauds. Niflheim isn't really my country, I still belong to Tenebrae."

"You’ve made the right decision." Cor nods.

They have no idea what changed Ravus exactly, what happened between him and Ardyn, but even Noctis is thankful that Ravus is on their side. 

The ship soars across the central station, even it's called center station, there's no sign of prosperity, the station is more like a decrepit small town where only soldiers and old people are roving. Abruptly, the ship stops. 

"What is going on?" Aranea asks her pilot.

"The ground crew, they stopped us." 

All look down. There are indeed several men from the ground crew asking them to land their ship on a landing zone. 

"Open your cabin please." says the man to the Aranea.

"Excuse me, we're heading to Lestallum and we're already late." A sense of caution palls over her face.

"I don't know what happened to Zegnautus Keep but you'll have to cooperate." the man says patronizingly, "open the door, please." 

Inside, everybody is preparing another fight. Cor stands closest to the door, ready to kill any ground men below as soon as the door opens. Ravus pushes down the katana clenched in Cor's fist, "Let me handle this. You'll just need to cover Noctis."

Cor steps back, nods at Ravus and sits next to Noctis, making sure Noctis and Prompto can't be seen from the door.

"Sir, seriously if you don't cooperate, stand outside please."

"No need." Ravus appears beside him, "As he has the Red Pass from Commander Ravus Fleuret."

"Commander Fleuret?!"

Ravus shows the Red Pass to the man. The man's eyes widely open like he is a spurious one. 

"Any act of procrastinating can be considered as dereliction of duty. " says Ravus in a gruff voice, "What's wrong? Never seen a Red Pass? If you fail to do your job, I'll find a better substitution."

"No, no. There's no problem at all, Sir."

The man scans the Red Pass on a machine. The green light flashes, indicating him to let off the ship.

"Thank you." He returns the Red Pass.

"Thank the Empire." the man gives a sign of salutation to Ravus. He squints at Ravus' back for two seconds and smirks, "Not on my watch."


	10. Chapter 10

"He passed the test, all data is stable now, unbelievable." a research personnel in front of Verstael says while flinging off the sweats on his face. All the monitors surrounded in the laboratory glows in green from yellow.

"That was the most difficult one. What a miracle. He's in a very weak state now. Any further test must be paused now." Verstael caresses the dampened forehead of Prompto, "Get a test result of his liver enzyme and lixiviate the white blood cells, prevent all the possible stimulus and look after him 24/7. I need to make sure his condition is as perfect as I expected to go to the final test. Keep the current amount of soporific drugs, I don't want him to escape again." he looks close to the wan countenance of Prompto and covers his half-opened eyes, "Maybe he'll dream of the Prince coming to save him." he sniggers, "Have a good sleep, my dear son. And prepare for your final test next week."

"No!" Prompto groans, trying his best to get rid of all the needles inside his skin, "No, I'm not one of your experiments! No!"

He squirms until one of the staff notices him and presses his body, and another one notices the two and comes to help. They fold his arms and wrists, yelling something he can't comprehend at first but later become clearer and clearer. "safe", "with me", "Prompto" are the ones he can hear now. Prompto tries to look at them, but their faces are all covered in bright lights, too bright that it hurts Prompto's eyes.

"Open your eyes!" a medic says, "You're safe with me, Prompto."

His voice is so familiar to Prompto but he can't tell why is that. He tries his best to clear his mind, and he opens his eyes and blinks several times. He sees the blanching face of the medic coming clear. Is this, Noctis? And the lights somehow form an arc around that medic's face, making this image so exquisite and chimerical. Prompto chocks and wheezes. The last sardonic words of Verstael totally crashed the hope of it being true, it never can be so desperate to wake up from a nightmare and come to realize that he didn't.

"Wait, wait, wait! Is this even real?"

"Yes, Prom. We're safe now, listen to the outside, it's the sound of engine blades that only in Lestallum can be heard. You're not dreaming." It's Noctis' calming voice.

Prompto gasps, he looks at Noctis' face who's next to Ignis. His anxiety subsides. It's real, it's Noctis that he's looking at. He looks around. The room is muggy, the ceiling is stained with humidity, the surrounding is unfamiliar to him but calms him down. And when he pays attention to the outside, instead of the siren outside of Zegnautus Keep, it's the market noise of Lestallum that he hears now.

"Ok, relax Prompto." he says to himself, "So, you really killed Verstael. And it was really you that came to the lab and saved me? I thought, I thought I -"

Noctis nods and placates him in a gentle voice, "Yes. It's me."

"Where am I now?"

Noctis wets his lower lip, "In the hotel of Lestallum. Iggy told me that your life was no longer at risk, so we decided to stay here a couple of nights before moving back to Insomnia."

Prompto touches the flocky sheet below his body, making sure that it's real, he breathes a euphoric sigh of relief, "So I'm no longer in Niflheim, huh?"

"Yep."

He smiles, trying to get off the bed but Ignis gives a sign of "no", Prompto makes a grimace and obeys. While returning his head on the pillow, he hears some noise like two men are talking outside the door. The man calls Noctis' name and the other tries to alleviate the situation.

Then the noise suddenly stops, Ignis goes to the door and opens it right on the time when both of them turn their head and look at him.

"He woke up?" Cor says.

Ignis gives a bespectacled nod. Both enter the room and look at Prompto like they were looking at a three-year-old child.

"Well, " Gladio previously tense face is relaxed, "I still think we should go back to Insomnia first. There are a lot of innocent people here. What if -"

"I assure you it won't happen." Cor insists and comes inside the room.

"How long have I been here?" Prompto rubs his eyes.

Noctis looks at Gladio, looking for a confirming nod and says to Prompto, "2 days already. It's ok, we have time."

Cor comes closer to Prompto, sitting on the bed next to him and putting his hand on the shoulder of Prompto, "Despite the twists and turns, you're finally back to our side. But of course, without the help of Ravus and Aranea, we probably wouldn't able to make it."

"Ravus?! He's here too?"

The four look at each other, now that Noctis recalls, Prompto never really went through this adventure. He was barely able to open his eyes, not to mention to have noticed the existence of Ravus there.

"He's not here. He said he'd better leave as you would hate to see him." Cor shrugs, "I had a little conversation with him actually. He highly appreciated your talent. I remember when I first saw you, I had a doubt, is this fluffy hair young boy the rebellious vicious sniper? Now I have no doubt about you. We wished you to be in the battle of defending Altissia, but since you don't like Ravus, you can choose to follow another Commander, me for example."

"Cor," Noctis interjects, "Can't you give us a break? Prompto hasn't fully covered yet. And by the way, I was there too. You should mention my name first."

"I'm sure Your Majesty would be very grateful to hear your story."

"That's not what I asked for. Anyhow, " he turns to Prompto who's totally lost, "I'll tell you the story of Ravus later. To be terse, he's on our side now."

"Seriously?"

The four nod at him almost simultaneously.

"Wow, so Verstael is dead, and Ravus is on our side? I feel like a miracle just happened in one night. I think I should laugh now."

"It surely is." Gladio laughs.

Cor gives a contented smile, "Now I'll give you a break."

He gestures to Ignis and Gladiolus and the three leave the room.

"Now it's just the two of us." Noctis closes the door behind, "Anything you want, water? Foods? There's a shop downstairs for fruits too."

"Just some water, please. In fact, let me do it myself." he tries to get off the bed but is stopped by Noctis.

Noctis then brings some water from the hotel service for him.

"Thank you, Noct, they are just soporific drugs, no big deal. And I think I've slept enough." he gets off the bed with the help of Noctis, "I don't know what should I do next, to be honest. Everything changed so fast that my mind can't catch up."

"Ignore Cor, even if you don't want to go to Altissia, it's totally fine, I can convince him."

"It's ok, Noct. It was part of the plan. Besides, I really want to reciprocate, and this is my chance to do it. I'm glad to be accepted. The Empire, " he sighs, "I really wish it fall."

"We all want to see the Empire fall. This wish has become much stronger after I saw the people of Niflheim when I was in Gralea. One day I'll be the King, and I'll lead you to that dream."

"Noct, " he giggles, "and when that day comes, I hope I can still be at your service."

"Hmmm, you can be my first chevalier then."

"But I'm a sniper."

"Well, " Noctis rolls his eyes, "my martial chevalier. You know what, I'm thinking what kind of royal insignia I should assign you. Maybe it's too early for now."

"Hey, is the AC broken or not?" Prompto abruptly asks, eyes looking for something can be cool, "Damn, I've been really sweating a lot. It's amazing that in Gralea it was snowing all the time and here it's hot as Hades. I need to take a shower now."

"There is no AC in this hotel, they use electric fans." he points to one of the walls where it installs the fan, "If you want to use the shower room, I can help."

"Noct, thank you very much for your advice. But seriously, I know how to use a shower room. Just like the one in Insomnia." Prompto takes off his shirt that belongs to Noctis and opens the door of the shower room.

"No, it's different, the letters they use are not exactly the same as the ones in Insomnia." Noctis follows, "I'm afraid you'll get confused, as I was when I first used it."

Suddenly a hand plucks the hem of Noctis' T-shirt and yanks him in. Prompto gives him a kiss on the lips and closes their door behind.

"Then teach me how to use it, Prince." he's so close to Noctis that his muscular chest is pressing against Noctis' shirt. He wickedly smiles at his prince and strips off all his clothes. Then he leaves Noctis who's already flushed there, like what just happened is nothing to him. And as he turns the faucet on which makes the sealed shower room full of steam, Noctis becomes the only thing that's frozen. Prompto then gets closer to Noctis again and hands slide into Noctis' pants and unzip them in a desperate speed. For several seconds, the prince has no idea what he should act.

"Prompto, " he mutters, "What do you think you are doing now?"

Prompto scoffs, he comes to whisper at Noctis' left ear like a cat, "You know those soporific drugs, they could put you to sleep, but the worst part of them is the side effects. Then you asked me if I needed help." he bites his lips, "You know those questions have their answers."

"So what? You're telling me you want to get laid?" Noctis grins. His soul is back to his body and he doesn't want to give in. His back stiffens, he holds Prompto's arms and forces him to the corner just one inch away from the sprinkler, "I'll splash you wet from the top to the bottom."

"That's how you take showers?"

"Let me teach you how to take a shower properly, " he smirks, "in Lucis' way. "

Prompto laughs jocosely and deeply kisses the Prince, Noctis just can't believe how Prompto's tongue is so nimble in twisting his, he lifts Prompto's flaccid waist with one hand, looking at his totally flushed face smiling happily at him through the suffused hazy steam and says, "Stop, I don't want you to suffocate here."

"No you don't." Prompto moistens his already cerise lips and bends down. He swallows Noctis' doppelgänger whole in his watery tongue like his dire desire can only be quenched in this way. His hair and body however are all wet by the shower as Noctis moves the sprinkler, and the droplets trickling on his bare skin look strangely erotic.

"Just like what I taught, yes, Prompto, now you are all wet." he says with a controlled gasp.

Noctis puts back the sprinkler and leans against the glazed tiles as Prompto nibbles his cock, leading him to the only place of the room that's not too moist, he gasps and kneads Prompto's saturate scalpel.

"I always have fancies of this in the shower room. Ah… Prompto, those drugs… they are not the first time you had them, right?"

Prompto laughs, stops his movement, leaning his temple against Noctis' abdominal V. He looks up at Noctis who's giving him a hand to help him get up and smiles in a frivolous way, "No. Eh, are you jealous, Prince Noctis?"

"Jealous? No. Please, I was just curious." he touches his lips, "You never did with anyone in your lab? Never?"

"What if I say yes? What will you do? Punish me?"

Noctis suddenly presses Prompto's chest and pushes him to the corner. One step back Prompto's shoulder blade the streaming water against the tiles.

"Wh, wait! Noct! I was just kidding."

Noctis enjoys Prompto's flustered look, his hand props against the wall, leaving Prompto no escape. He has a wicked idea in his mind and he loves to say it now.

"Show me how did you slake your desire."

"N.. Now?!"

"Yeah." he grins. His finger skims through his black drenched fringe and combs it backward, "As I'm the teacher now. I demand you to masturbate in front of me, but don't come."

Prompto swallows, he stares at Noctis' blue eyes in a close distance that every eyelash is visible. Noctis' face clearly shows he's not joking.

"Do it. Prom."

So he does it. He touches himself in such a narrow space and his lips leak a suffocating moan. Noctis finds it amusing, his lips come closer to Prompto's, but he chooses not to kiss him. Instead, he lets the hot breaths coming out of Prompto's mouth flick his cheek.

"Yes, continue like that." his finger elegantly scrawls on Prompto's torso, "So this is how you did."

"I was, very isolated. As the top of the team I was told to not touch the others. What could I expect then?" he says while keeping following the prince' order, "Every next injection the desire escalated, it was so dire that I was always afraid I would die next time. Ah…" he wants to continue, but Noctis whimsically dips Prompto's nipples with his hot wet fingers.

"Stop, Noct, I'm about to - "

"Don't come, Prompto." he wants to say more, but his tongue is getting too scalding to continue before swallowing some water first.

Prompto appeals for another kiss but the attempt is failed as he has to close his eyes and concentrate. When he opens his eyes again, he looks at Noctis in his glittering eyes that Noctis isn't sure if it's water or tear. Somehow, he feels a bit cruel to see Prompto eye him like this. His soft lips open again and this time they move for a merciful message.

"Or you can stop if you kiss me."

"I'm gratified that you said that."

Prompto kisses him adoringly and desperately like it's bliss to him.

"Feel better?"

"A bit."

"Turn around, " he says softly, "let me wash your back."

Noctis kisses him from the back blissfully, squeezes a shampoo bottle to get some gel and messages Prompto's hair. After Prompto put his hands on Noctis' fingers, he leaves the job to Prompto.

"Exellent job." he sais with an amusing tone.

"Please, Noct, I'm not a child."

Seeing Prompto's head is full of suds, Noctis cleanses his hair, then applies shower gel gently to Prompto's body. He meticulously cleans the groove of his ass and the groin until Prompto's trembling right hand holds his wrist to plead for a support, trying to tell him to stop but having to succumb to this torture.

"What's wrong, Prom? You don't like it?" he coaxes.

"Noct, " he can hardly pronounce a word, "you're going to do it or what?"

"You're going to regret saying that."

"Oh I won't." he sinks a smile and stiffens his body. Suddenly, Prompto tugs Noctis' collar and drags Noctis out of the shower room. He enjoys Noctis' flustered look as he propels him on the bed. Probably the only thing that Noctis is grateful right now is the curtains still being off. As Noctis' back heavily fells on the mattress, Prompto desperately sprawled on top of him between his legs.

"I want it now." he's almost crying, "Be inside me."

Noctis gasps and clasps the pillow behind his head when Prompto let himself be shoved in and moans in a sound that Noctis never dared to imagine. It's too hard for him to not look at Prompto in this submissive point of view and not get provoked. His cock gets hardened every time Prompto moans in the rhythm of his squirm.

"Ah..." Noctis exclaims, "Why everything about you is so good?"

In fact, he feels so embarrassed to confess that, his mind goes into blankness and he blames himself for not being creative. His eyes are so wet that he can only see a bleary view of Prompto there. His hands clasp on Prompto's inner thighs and spread them wider so that Prompto is more open to receive what all he can offer. As the penetration gets deeper, his last barrier has been broken and it makes Prompto quiver.

Both dissolve into incoherent sobs in this Assaults of temptation. Noctis never dislikes the energy saving idea of this room until now. He can't bear this hectic heat anymore. And when he presses Prompto's flesh harder, a drop of hot gooey milk oozes out of the tip of Prompto's cock. He can feel the erratic contraction of Prompto's inner skin like it's sucking so hard and Prompto's wheezing is surely instigating the idea of thrusting harder. Not until a few minutes later, Prompto's trembling hands clutch his and wails when that moment comes. Noctis certainly wants to do it again as he knows he's going to get aroused for the second time very soon but when Prompto slumps against his chest and looks up at him in still tearful eyes, Noctis decides to give Prompto a break as they have plenty of time in the future.

-

When the sun falls, the two are hungry and think of going out for a dinner. As the foods in Lestallum are famous for its delicacy, they both decide they can't miss them.

At the door of the hotel, Prompto asks Noctis where are Gladio and Ignis. Noctis has no idea either. And he assures Prompto that it's very safe here so no need to worry. There was no attack ever since they arrived here.

Prompto gets out of the hotel before Noctis, he's so happy, at least for Noctis he's never seen Prompto like this before. Once Noctis gets out of the hotel, the fresh breeze caresses his hair, the night of Lestallum is no longer muggy and it brings happiness. He has a feeling, strange but frolic, that he's going to be with Prompto forever like this. By thinking of that, he's no longer in a hurry.

The two saunter to the corner of the market, where they sit down at a grill and order some foods that they giggled at their names. Noctis looks at Prompto's burnishing hair, he notices the reflection of the burning light from the lamp has formed something like a halo. What an angel, he thinks. In the corner of the entrance to the Market, Gladio and Ignis can be easily witnessed. Everything seems to be peaceful.

"hmmm, I love the air here." Prompto drinks his lukewarm lemon tea, taking a deep breath so that the freshness comes into his lungs, "I think they put mint in their foods, I can smell it. What do you think?"

"I'm thinking, Prom." Noctis takes a sip of his own lemon tea.

"Yes?"

"Since you really don't like going with Ravus to Altissia, that's what Ravus told us, to be honest I don't want you to go either... I'm thinking that you can have another option, to be a student in my school, just like the rest of the kids in Insomnia at your age."

"A chance of real life. I don't know, if I could, of course I wish to stay in Insomnia. Now that you told me what Ravus did to us, I guess I could try to accept him, though I know it's going to be difficult. "

"Yeah. We go to school together, that was what I always wanted."

"May I have this chance?"

"Sure, I'll tell my father about it."

"Noct, " he says in a sorrowful voice and gazes at Noctis through the glinting candle fire on the table, "I really appreciate everything you've done to me."

"Don't bother it. Hey, by the way, I almost forgot, what was that armchair doing? Sorry if that brought you trauma, I'm just a bit curious. It was announcing some percentage, what was it for?"

"Ah!" Prompto gasps, "Now that you said it, it must have removed part of my memories. Hmmm, what was it?"

"I don't know. Anything that seems to be blurry to you now? Do you still remember Aranea?"

"Sure! She's like a sister to me and she helped me get out. I remember she sent me to Aracheole Stronghold... which is very close from here, yes. And then, I spent a few nights in several towns and, ah… hmmm," he frowns and purses his mouth.

"Do you still remember when did we meet?"

Prompto rises his eyebrows like he's desperately thinking for an answer but nothing seems to be elicited from his brain.

"I…ah," he touches his temple, "I think I forgot. That's the part that's gone! Oh no."

"It's ok." Noctis places his palm upon Prompto's, "Let me tell you now. Around 2 months ago, when I was in Hammerhead…"


End file.
